Two geeks in love
by Runnerload
Summary: Nell and Eric finally realize their true feelings for each other...
1. Chapter 1

NCIS LA- Two geeks in love

Chapter 1

It was normal day at OPS, Nell and Eric were sitting at their usual places in front of the big screen both of them busy with their respective tasks. "Soo…How was your weekend Rockstar?" Eric finally asked without looking away from his computer screen, because he was so engulfed in filing his last report for Hetty that was overdue as always.

"It was very nice, me and my good friend Tina where in a bar flirting with some guys. I actually met a very nice looking tall guy that even gave me his telephone number and said that it would be really nice if we could meet again some time." Eric froze for a second in what he was doing right at the moment, trying his best to figure out if Nell was just joking around or if she really was the type to hook up right away with any guy she meets in some bar. He finally then collected himself again, decided play along for the time being and said: "Sounds nice so are you going to meet that guy again? What's his name anyways?"

"Probably yes, because it was...love at first sight actually and his name is Jack." In his opinion that sounded very serious to him and he couldn't help but feel a little jealous right now but of course he didn't want Nell to know that. Nell had been totally on cloud nine the whole day, because she really had totally fallen for Jack. Never had it happened to her, that she was completely in love head over heels after only the first meeting. Then Hetty arrived in the room and said: "Good morning Miss Jones and Mister Beale, we've got a new case, so please summon the team." Eric wanted to get up from his chair but Nell was faster than him and nicely asked: "Can I…?" The blonde techie looked deep into the wonderful eyes of the Intelligence Analyst and said with a smile on his face:" Of course Rockstar go ahead." Nell then walked to sliding doors and Eric looked after her until she disappeared. She finally reached the stairs that lead down to the bullpen of the HQ and whistled as loud as she could. "Hetty all wants you upstairs because we have a new case to solve." The other team members shortly followed Nell through the sliding doors upstairs, Deeks and Kensi being the last two to enter the room.

"Mister Beale." Hetty just said and then Eric put on a photo of the person, which obviously was involved in the newest case. "This is Braden Palmer, Navy Intelligence Officer on the USS Enterprise. Since last week the ship has been home from the latest mission in the Indian Ocean. The crew is since then on vacation, yesterday neighbors of mister palmer called the police because of suspicious activities in his apartment. When the police finally arrived, Mister Palmer was nowhere to be found in his apartment, the complete place was left in big mess. The neighbor that lived directly next to him said that he saw a black van standing in parking space just a few meters away from the house. He even was able to give them a license plate but the plates were faked. The Secretary of the Navy has personally called and made very clear, that time is the enemy in this case. Lt Palmer has access to a lot of sensitive data. We need to find him fast before sensitive data of our military falls in the hands of terrorists." Nell then put another picture on the big screen and Hetty then continued: "This is Braden Palmer sister, Sandra Palmer. Mister Deeks and Miss Blye, you will pay her a little visit, maybe she has some value information for us. Here is the address" Hetty then handed Kensi a little piece of paper and with Deeks in tow she left the room. Then she lastly turned to Sam and Callen: "Mister Hannah and Mister Callen, you look at the Crime Scene, maybe we get lucky and the captors of Mister Palmer have left some trace behind."

While finally finishing his last mission report for Hetty, he thought about the weird feelings he had when Nell had said she would have a date with another guy the next weekend. Was he jealous because he felt more than friendship for his partner? _*Me and Nell are just friends and it will probably stay that way, because it doesn't seem that she is interested in me. She probably thinks that a relationship with a colleague is totally unprofessional.* _He finally then sent his report to Hetty via E-Mail and Nell then turned around to face him and said: "How was your weekend by the way?" Eric had to think for a while for a good answer to this question. He couldn't just say that he played video games at home and watched some TV. He didn't want to bore his colleague but wouldn't she see through his lie very quick? They surely had known each other for a long time now and so it certainly wouldn't be easy to fool her. He then finally answered: "Nothing special just watching some TV."

"Oh ok." Nell answered and had clearly noticed the little jealousy in his eyes even if he tried his best to hide from her.

Certainly the question came to her mind, what made Eric so jealous but her train of thought was quickly interrupted as Callen called and had some work to do for Eric. "I'm searching for the Van right now in Kaleidoscope." Eric said to Callen at the other end of the line and patiently waited for the program to finish the search for suspicious van. A few minutes later he finally said: "Got it, I'm sending the address to your phone right now." Before hanging up Callen thanked him for the information. "You know that I've dated a lot of hot chicks recently. Actually I'm dating a hot blonde right now; anyway I'm a highly wanted guy out there. No one can withstand the special Beale Charm."

"And how does that Beal Charm work?" Nell asked and was very anxious to hear the answer from her colleague. "Sorry Nell, I really can't tell you, because that's a Beale family secret." Eric answered and brightly grinned at her. Nell put on her best puppy dog eyes look and said: "Please Eric, we are friends you can trust me with that "family secret"" and couldn't stop grinning at him.

"No way! Don't give me that innocent look, because that won't work on me." Eric replied and then Nell pretended to be totally sad about that answer, put on her best sad face. But then she grinned at him at said: "Fine Mister Lady's man, I don't want to ruin your luck with the ladies."

_AN: This is my first NCIS-LA Fanfic, any suggestions to improve the quality of the story are more than welcome. I hope enjoyed reading the first chapter, please read & rewiew._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Later that day, Callen arrived back from the crime scene and brought Eric a torn piece of paper: "We found this piece of paper at the crime scene in the bin of Palmer's apartment. You need to find out what's on there."

"Ok, I'll get right on it." Eric replied and then got right away on the task. Callen then handed a laptop to Nell and said: "Nell find out what's on that laptop, maybe there are any clues on that, to why he was kidnapped in the first place." Then Callen finally left the room through the sliding doors and the two techies were alone once again. Putting that torn piece of paper back together proved to be more difficult than expected but he didn't want Nell to know, that he might struggle a little with his current task. Meanwhile Nell encrypted the Laptop in no time, with a special little algorithm she had written in college. She secretly peeked over shortly to Eric's desk and almost wanted to solve that puzzle herself but she decided against it, because in the spirit of fair competition she let him continue working on it. Nell then spotted on interesting File on the laptop, but it was encrypted in complicated way, so she couldn't get open with her encryption algorithm. It took a while a longer, but she finally got through the second layer of encryption and then read through the file.

Suddenly an alarm went off on Eric's Computer, he quickly put together the last pieces of the puzzle, let his hands then fly over the keyboard and said: "Somebody is trying to hack into the Pentagon with Braden Palmer's password. I'm trying my best to keep the hacker away from the sensitive data." Nell then quickly put away the laptop, her hands also quickly moved over the keyboard and she tried to trace back the IP Address of the Attacker. "I can't trace the attacker properly; he is redirecting his IP from one country to another." From another unknown source another attack was suddenly started, more aggressive then the first one and so the two NCIS techies had their hands full with fending off the attacks. Hetty came into the room and wanted a short status report, Eric did his best to update his boss on the current situation and fend off the now massive attack on one of sensitive servers of the pentagon. Nell finally found a way to break through the masked IP of the hacker and said to Eric: "I got him Eric, he is in LA and I'm pinpointing his exact location now." As quickly as she could, she ran the trace program and hopped that she would get the exact location of the hacker. The first attack had finally stopped, when the trace program finally revealed the location of the hacker attack: "The hacker is an abandoned warehouse at Rodeo Drive Number 23." Eric quickly grabbed his phone, called Callen downstairs to give him the information and then turned to Nell: "Impressive Move Rockstar, but how did you that?" Nell grinned brightly, already knowing in advance that that question would come from her partner and then she said: "Sorry partner, but if I would tell you that I would have to kill you." Nell finally continued working on the laptop, too see if there was anything else interesting to find on there and while working was thinking about her date with Jack tonight, she really loved his company and deep down in her heart she knew, that that "thing" as Eric would probably say, would last for very long time.

She then quickly collected herself again, as she had realized at the right time that she had been totally away from reality with her thoughts and had just stared at Laptop Screen for a few minutes. Finally she focused again on work because Callen surely wanted her status report on her findings on Palmer's laptop. The rest of the work day went by fast; Nell reported to Callen her findings on the laptop of the missing Navy Lieutant and one document sent the team, proved to be a very hot new lead in the case and while Sam and Callen followed that new lead, he sent Kensi and Deeks to the Commanding Officer of Palmer to find out to which data he had exactly access. While being busy looking into the phone records of Peter Mills, an ex-navy civil employee, Eric's computer began to beep. Eric immediately called Callen, to notify him, that Kaleidoscope had found the van.

By the evening they finally wrapped up the case: Eric had finally found out, where the Lt. was being held captive, Kensi, Deeks, Sam & Callen promptly made their way to the little private airfield and freed the navy lt. The boss of the gangsters tried to get away, almost ran Kensi but she quickly brought the car to screeching halt by firing two precise shots at the driver. All of them finally came back to the headquarters, Sam came upstairs later and asked: "I and the others want to drink something bar, you two want to come with us?" Nell was the first one to answer: "Sorry Guys, I have other plans for tonight but maybe next time."

"I have nothing else to do tonight, so why not? I'll be downstairs right away." Surely he was a little sad that Nell wouldn't come along but he did his best to not show that kind of emotion to her. Eric loved having her around her, she was definitely the best partner he could ever have or maybe even more than that? In the best nonchalant voice he then said before Nell left the room: "Have a nice evening Rockstar and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks you too." Nell answered and Eric looked after her, till she disappeared through the sliding doors.

He finally then left the room, after he switched out his Computer and the light in room and then joined the others downstairs.

_AN: Thanks to- Crazy Women loves for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list and reviewing the story, thanks to- Number Sixteen for adding this story to her favorite stories list and reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review and suggestions to improve the quality of the story are more then welcome._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next day the two were sitting again at their usual places, while doing a background search for Kensi in their newest case, Eric turned his chair around to face his partner and asked: "So how was your little date yesterday?"

"It was very nice, I and Jack went to a fancy Italian restaurant and the meal was very delicious. He looks very handsome, a little taller than I am, has short black hair and dark brown eyes. He's just….perfect!" If he was honest to himself, he really hated it when woman were talking like they were flying on Cloud Nine but he kept on listening to Nell, while looking through the file of Navy Captain Mark Hart, that Kensi had requested a background check on. He sent all the data to her phone and then answered: "Sounds cool, me and the other also had a nice evening at the bar." What he didn't say was that he had left go home early because he couldn't have fun yesterday without his partner. He didn't mention that, because he did want to prevent that she got the false expression of that, maybe thinking that he felt more than friendship for her. Maybe it was really better to keep this all on the friend's level; anything else would probably distract them both at their very important work.

Eric's train of thought was quickly interrupted as; Callen called and wanted a trace on mobile phone, so Eric went again back into full work mode, fully concentrating on the task at hand. It only took a few seconds, and then he successfully traced the mobile phone and sent the address immediately to Callen's mobile phone. The newest case seemed to be very tricky, since most of their leads proved to be dead ends, their number suspect was very good in covering his tracks, what made this case so difficult to solve. After doing some extensive brainstorming, Nell finally came up with an Idea: "We need cross reference the found contacts in Balor's mobile phone with known associates of Barek Talar, since the two are obviously connected to each other." Eric immediately called Callen, sent him all the data he needed and then said: "Brilliant Idea Rockstar." Nell extended her hand for a high five and Eric gladly accepted it. Nell also got another opportunity to go undercover, because there was a job opening in Balor's office since the Navy Analyst Anna Walden had been fired because of miss conduct on the job. Before she left the OSP Eric said to her, that she should be careful, considering the fact what suspicious people where at the Naval Office in LA.

Nell assured that she would be back safe and sound from her second undercover trip: "Don't worry Beale, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself." After they had tested Nell's hidden earpiece together, she finally made her way out of the OSP. Nell was really looking forward to doing some field work again, of course she loved to work with Eric at OSP Office but doing some field work was always a nice change.

The first day of Nell's undercover mission went by fast; to not draw any suspicion on herself she participated on any important meetings in the office and got to know some of her colleagues a little better in between. Back the OSP she then reported to Hetty and the others of the team: "So far I haven't found out, how Balor was exactly able to get all those highly classified files beyond all the security measures at the Naval Office in LA, he surely didn't do it alone because he hasn't got that high clearance, clearly somebody from a higher clearance level was definitely with him into the data theft."

"Eric, you have to find out, who in there has the skills to pull this off. We also need to know fast, who he exactly sold to and retrieve the data again, because the Naval has some sensitive files on their servers and in the wrong hands they will cause America a lot of trouble." Eric got back up the stairs again right away, meanwhile Nell stayed in the squad room talking with Callen and Hetty about how they should progress with the undercover operation. A little while later the little meeting was over and because Hetty wanted Nell to be fresh the next day she sent her home to get some rest. The next day, was as normal as yesterday but in the afternoon things took a very interesting twist: While looking out of her window, she spotted a suspicious guy lurking around at the warehouse that belonged to Navy office. "Eric, something suspicious is going on right outside window right now and I'm going after this guy and maybe you can run facial recognition on him."

"Ok copy that Nell, but be careful because you don't know who you're dealing with." Eric replied and then a observed this whole scene on the big screen and really hoping that Nell wasn't making a mistake going after this guy. Always making sure she didn't come to close, Nell continued to tail the guy that was obviously waiting for someone but for who?

Shortly she took in her surroundings quick, making sure by doing that, that no one was following her and then set her sights again on her target. Her weapon was ready to pull, in case she needed to use it and even if didn't want to admit to her, she really was nervous because of this whole situation. Suddenly the guy had disappeared, what Nell unfortunately didn't know was the fact that her target knew that he was being followed because there was a second person that was serving as a lookout. When she finally reached the warehouse, her target was nowhere to be seen and now she was getting a little suspicious. Eric immediately notified Sam and Callen as the feed from Nell out of nowhere collapsed.

Nell tried to get out the warehouse as fast as she could, as she sensed that this whole thing had to be trap but someone grabbed her from behind and knocking her out with a sedative. Eric frantically tried to reach her on her mobile phone but immediately got the voice mail. Sam and Callen drove as quick as they could to the scene but when they finally arrived, it was too late, Nell had been already taken away from the warehouse. _ I really hope that she is ok, let her be ok. _Eric thought back at the OSP.

_AN: Thanks to- Callen 37 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- Through your bright eyes for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- Mc Griddle 96 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- Takoh for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list and this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- Mc Alice Bones Potter redhead for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription. _

_I hope you like this chapter, please read & rewiew_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Nell woke up in dark room with an enormous headache and really didn't know where she was and how she got here. She quickly took in her surroundings, seeing only one big door at the end of the room and not any window, which might have been a good escape route for her. She sighed barely audible, hoped that her team would soon find her and thought to herself: _Why have they taken me and what do they want with me? _ She sat there alone in the dark, on the cold floor, cuffed to a metal pipe and didn't know how long she was already here: minutes or even hours?

Back at the OSP Eric had found a new lead to Nell's whereabouts, the whole team quickly came upstairs as he had told them, that he had traced Nell's mobile phone. "I've found Nell's mobile phone; the signal is coming from a park near Rodeo Drive and hasn't been moving for the past hours." Callen then said: "Kensi and Deeks, go to the warehouse of the Naval Office and find out if the kidnappers left any trace behind. Sam you with, we need to pick up Nell's mobile phone fast." Then Eric was once again alone in the room, searching for any sign of the Kidnappers by going over the feeds of the traffic cams over and over again. Hours and Hours passed by, Eric was getting frustrated a little by now as he didn't find any sign of the Kidnapper's car on Kaleidoscope, right now his only hope was that they would find Nell fast before something bad had happened to her. Kensi had found tire tracks near the warehouse, together with Deeks she followed them to a path in the forest nearby. They got out of the car, notified Eric of the new situation and continued to follow the tracks deep into the forest. Eric was really glad to hear, that Kensi and Deeks had apparently found the tire tracks of the car of the kidnappers and hopped that they now would soon find Nell.

Back in the lonely house in the middle of nowhere one of Nell's kidnappers finally showed up, he was dressed completely in black; a ski mask covered his face. He stepped closer to her, lifted her head up to face him and said: "What do you know about Operation Maelstrom and who are you working for? FBI? CIA?" Nell tried her best to kick or punch at her kidnapper, but right now she was just too weak, to be a serious thread for him. "Who are you working for?" He once again asked her and as Nell didn't answer for the second time, he pushed her harder to the cold wall behind her and hit her directly into the face with one of his gloved hands a couple of times. The first strikes she was able to absorb the pain but as he hit her a lot harder, she couldn't handle it anymore what must have been hours of taking extensive beating and cried out in pain. The kidnapper repeated the question a lot of times and Nell said in between crying: "I don't anything….please let me go!"

"I don't believe you, you're lying!" The black dressed man said and continued hit her in the face and punch her in the stomach a couple of times. Finally he then let go off her, slamming the door behind him as left the room, the only thing Nell could hear before her everything became totally dark around her was the locking of the door, that was the only way out of her prison.

Meanwhile Kensi and Deeks had found the kidnappers car and to their disadvantage, the car seemed to be wiped clean before they had dumped and hid it here in the middle of the forest. The footprints Kensi found nearby the car suddenly ended and so that lead was a dead end at the moment. Eric then frantically searched for a map of the area after Kensi and Deeks had returned to her car and finally figured out where Nell was being held: An Abandoned wooden house, he quickly got this information to Kensi and Deeks and since they didn't know how many men were inside, they called Callen and Sam as their backup.

Finally as the full team had finally assembled, they stormed the big wooden house, finding no signs of anyone on the first floor. As they made their way down to the second, they were greeted by a gunmen two gunmen immediately opening fire on them. After they had taken out all three of them, they arrived at the heavy metal door that was locked with an iron chain, as time was definitely their enemy in this rescue operation, Callen asked all of the other team members to step back so could shoot the lock off. Sam immediately ran to Nell's side and said to the others: "She's got a pulse, even if it's a very weak one and she pretty bad banged up. We've got to get her out of here fast!" Sam quickly picked Nell up from the ground after getting rid of the cuffs and then they made their way out of there as fast as they could. Nell got a lot of broken ribs, so it took one week before they let her leave the hospital. Eric and the rest of the team visited her the whole week at the hospital, the two grew a lot closer in this week but despite of his feelings for her, he still didn't want to tell her because his biggest fear still was: She didn't feel the same way and it maybe could ruin their friendship. Eric surely didn't want to risk their friendship for anything in the world, so he just had to forget about this whole thing him having a relationship with the wonderful Nell Jones. But could he really live with that?

He finally then drove to the hospital together with Kensi and Deeks to the Hospital, worrying the whole time about her well-being. He was really shocked, when Sam had said in which bad shape they had found her and that made him worry even more about her.

The team was greeted by a doctor as they reached Nell's room and Eric was the first to ask: "Can we see her?"

"Yes you can, but because of the heavy injuries she sustained she really needs a lot of rest, so please don't stay long." Doctor Andrews answered and then Eric went inside his partner's room. The rest of the team stayed outside to give Eric and his partner a bit of privacy.

Eric slowly stepped nearer to the hospital bed of his partner, making sure not to wake her, took her hand into his and softly strokes it. Her body looked so bad right now and he really hoped that they would this bastard soon who did that to his partner. Eric stayed very long until he fell asleep on the Visitor Chair at Nell's bedside. A nurse that came into the room softly woke him up, telling him that the visitor hours were over for today and he had to go now. Eric softly kissed Nell's forehead and whispered in her ear: "Please get well soon Rockstar." He then took the bus home but couldn't really sleep at that night because he was so worried about Nell.

The whole visited Nell through the entire week, she still wasn't a hundred percent but her doctors assured that she would be released by the end of this week since she her body was recovering very well because of the medication.

"Hey how are you feeling Rockstar?" Eric asked his partner as he came by at the middle of the following week.

"Still a little shaken up, some ribs still hurt a lot but it's getting better day by day." Nell replied and tried to smile a little to cheer up the mood of her partner. She quickly regretted that because that made her wince in pain a little. They continued to talk a little but later day Nell got tired, Eric left the room and assured her that he would be back tomorrow.

_AN: Thanks to- Through your bright eyes for reviewing the story, thanks to- Pop girl for adding me to her favorite Authors alert list. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_

_AN2: I wasn't fully satisfied myself with this chapter, so I decided to rewrite the last part of it. The recovery of Nell was too rushed and considering the rescue of the NCIS Intelligence Analyst, there will be some flashbacks in between the ongoing recovery process. _


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After Nell was finally released home, Nell invited him over to her house for the first time ever. "I need to thank you for being there for me the whole time, when I needed a shoulder to cry on." She said in the phone conversation after Eric had finished another lonely work day at the office. He was at first surprised by that offer but then he said: "Sure, so I see you in one hour bye Rockstar." Eric then hung up, with a big smile on his face and then made his way to the address Nell had given him.

Dressed up in a very casual t-shirt and jeans, Nell opened Eric the door and said: "Hi come on in and thanks for coming." Eric complimented her on the very nice looking apartment and then she said: "I've prepared some dinner for us; I hope you're still hungry."

"Of course, you want to give any clues on what's on the menu card this evening?"

"No clues, that's a big surprise Eric." Nell said with a big grin on her face and disappeared into the kitchen after she had led Eric into the living room and led him to the table, where all was already prepared for the meal tonight.

Nell still hadn't totally recovered, after lying all the time in the hospital bed, her body still felt a little sore but the bruises had almost healed. Hetty had shortly called on Nell's first day home after an entire week at the hospital to say, that Nell should be back to work when she was a hundred percent again. To get fully fit once again, she would visit a rehabilitation center here in LA and Doctor Andrews had urged her before he had released her from the hospital to not do anything that costs a lot of energy because her muscles weren't ready yet to be burdened with power extensive things.

_Flashback_

_Nell lay unconscious on the ground, she heard the voices of her team, tried to answer them but she couldn't and that got her in panic mode. She felt someone pick her up from the ground. The first she woke up from what felt like a coma of years was in a hospital bed and was thankful to see the familiar face of her partner Eric. _

_He helped filling some blanks in her memory and all that information was a lot for her to take in at this time. Eric had a little worried look in his face, because Nell's expression on her face but she assured him was ok besides all the bruising that made her body hurt a lot right now._

_She was very thankful that he was here and really couldn't imagine having another / better partnering on her side. But she also missed Jack right now; right before Eric had arrived at the hospital she had called him. Of course she had to stick to a cover story that was she working at the Police Department in LA. In between talking Nell asked her partner to hand the glass of water that stood on her nightstand but clearly her grip on the glass wasn't as good as normal, so she spilled some water over herself. *That is so embarrassing, I feel so helpless!* Nell though to herself and blushed a little. Of course it didn't go unnoticed to her partner that she struggled a lot with drinking right now, so he got up from the chair at her bedside, took hold off the glass and helped her with drinking. She mouthed a silent Thank you but still was a little embarrassed by this whole situation. Later that day Eric finally went home and Nell was a little disappointed of that but he assured her to be back the next day. Then also Jack finally arrived at the hospital, being really shocked as he saw her lying in the hospital bed in such bad condition, Jack talked the most time because Nell hadn't got the power to talk a lot and he also helped a little with her dinner at the evening. _

_End Flashback_

Nell still struggled a lot with kitchen work and even she had made some rehab at the hospital, her grip on things and hand and eye coordination still weren't a hundred percent. As she got one glass out of the drawer, she tried her best to put on the kitchen table at the right time but it slipped out of her hand and dropped to the floor with a loud bang. Nell silently cursed to herself, of the course this whole thing hadn't gone unnoticed to Eric in the living room and so he stood in the doorway that lead to kitchen and said: "Let me do the work in the kitchen, its better you go into the living room and relax on the couch. " When he took the broom out of her hand, their hands briefly touched and there was an awkward silence between them for a couple of minutes.

Without saying another word to each other, Nell finally went into the living and lay down on the couch to let her partner do the kitchen work. They chatted a lot the rest of the evening but both of them had that one awkward moment on their mind for the rest of the evening.

Eric visited Nell the next days, when she was at home after finishing her daily rehab session. Jack and Nell also spent a lot of time with each other and in the end she was really glad to have two men that cared so much for her. One day after rehab, Nell was finally fit enough to take a longer walk, she decided to surprise her boyfriend at home. She really was anxious to see his reaction, when she would stand before his door today, walking there totally on her own without any help from anybody else. Meanwhile Eric was still in the middle of one hard work day at OSP, he didn't want to admit to himself or anybody else in the team but deep down his teammates knew how much he missed Nell.

When he had no work to be done, he was kind of depressed and had to fight really hard to focus on the Job. He was really glad when he could put those depressive thoughts aside by doing something useful for his team.

When Nell arrived at Jack house, she didn't like what scene she saw playing out in front of her: Her boyfriend kissing another woman. Nell didn't bother getting out of her car, she drove away from it all as fast as could, and tears begin streaming down her face as she made her way back home. _*How could he do this to me?*_

_AN: Thanks to- Crazy Woman loves you for reviewing the story and to through your bright eyes for being a good advice giver. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review _


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nell drove a lot through different streets not bothering driving home for now because the wound was just too fresh, to go back the place where she got reminded again of the man who cheated on her. Right now she just wished to have Eric's shoulder to cry on, but he was at work right now, probably couldn't leave from there right at the moment. She did her best to wipe away her tears and concentrating on driving at the same time even if proved to be harder then she thought.

Meanwhile Eric was busy with working but really couldn't get his mind off the thought what his partner was doing right now and was she also thinking about him? His train of thought was interrupted as, Kaleidoscope, the little handy program that had helped a lot during their numerous cases at OSP, notified him that it found the car he had searched for.

Eric quickly looked through the data, called Sam to tell him the good concerning the newest lead in their current case and sent the data to his phone. He was once again alone with his thoughts and with nothing else to do he decided to let his thoughts drift away from work. Silently as Ninja as always, Hetty came through the sliding doors and secretly surveyed this whole scene in front of her and knew that something was definitely up with him. She knew exactly what deep bond had developed between him and Nell Jones since the short NCIS Intelligence Analyst had started working at OSP.

Nell finally made her way home, for the moment her sobs had died but she still surely was in a very sad mood. Right now she just wanted one thing: lie down in bed and not get out of it again till the next morning. Had she really been so blind? Not realizing that Jack was probably using her the whole time, where she thought she and he had a "thing" going. Maybe that wouldn't have happened if she has had the right man the whole time? But who was Mister Right? Was it Eric or somebody else, she hadn't met yet? Once again some tears were trying to escape from her eyes but Nell did her very best to keep them back, she wanted so much to be strong right now, even if that was really the hardest thing to accomplish right now. The rest of the work day fortunately went by fast and it couldn't be over fast enough for Eric because he missed Nell so much and really continued to wonder all the time more and more what she was up to right now.

Was she at home alone right now? Or spending some time with her boyfriend Jack? He had to admit he was a little jealous of the guy, because deep down he wished that he was the guy by her side but did Nell want that? Did she feel the same way for him or did she just want to be friends? At first he had the opinion, that it was better if they just would stay friends. But that one awkward moment between them in Nell's kitchen had changed that totally. Maybe he should reveal his true feelings to her, what did he have to lose? The only thing she could say was probably "no, I don't feel the same way." Finally the work day was over, just as Eric had left the building his mobile phone vibrated and Eric quickly took it out of his pocket and smiled as he saw the caller Id on the display of his phone. As he picked it up, he was greeted by the loud sobbing of Nell Jones.

"What happened Nell?" Eric asked her in a very concerned tone and just wanted to be with her to able to hold her in his arms. "He cheated on me…..Jack….cheated on me!" Nell answered in between sobs, really wanting Eric's shoulder right now to cry on. Eric couldn't decide what to feel right now, should he be of the fact that Jack and Nell weren't a couple anymore or sad because his partners heart had been broken? "I'm really sorry to hear that Nell." Was all the blonde headed NCIS tech could get out right at this moment just feeling a little lost in this situation.

"Can you….come to my apartment tonight? I really need somebody to talk right now." Nell asked and was a little surprised of her because of what she just had said. Why didn't want she to have some girl time with Kensi? Another Girl would be surely the choice in the most cases of broken hearts for girls but why not for her? Eric was also surprised of Nell's inquiry to him but he answered with no hesitation: "Sure, I'll make my to your apartment right away."

During the entire drive to her apartment, Eric thought about how he should handle this very delicate situation, should try to say some kind words to cheer her up or just hold her? _* How could you break her heart Jack? She didn't deserve to be treated like that!* _Eric thought to himself and really tried his best to content his rage. _*I would never hurt her like that, NEVER!* _Eric assured to himself but put that thought away quickly and focused on driving again.

He finally then arrived at Nell's apartment, hit the doorbell and waited for Nell to open him the door. It took a while but Nell finally opened the door, her eyes totally red because of all the crying in the last hours but nonetheless she motioned for him to come in. Nell then finally closed the door behind Eric and then went back into her bedroom to lie down on the bed again. She started to sob heavily again, he kicked off his shoes next to her bed, lay down beside her and tried his very best to calm down his partner, by laying his arms around her tiny body and softly rubbing one hand over her back.

After what seemed like hours her sobs finally died down and for quite a while the two just looked very deep into each other's eyes, both not very sure what to do right now. Nell was the first to take the initiative, slowly she brought her face another bit closer to Eric's and softly started to kiss him. Eric on the other hand was really surprised of the bold move from her but he finally gives her tongue entrance to his mouth. As the two were laying there and kissing each other, time did not matter to them anymore. After almost an eternity the two finally drew away from each other, both tem trying very hard to get the much needed air into their lunges again. Together they got up into a sitting position on the bed, he softly touched one of Nell's cheeks as they were just sitting there for long time and were just silently enjoying each other's company. "I love you Eric." Nell said

"I love you too Nell." Eric answered and then they both went into out of the bedroom and into the living room, Nell shortly disappeared into the bathroom to clean of her face of the last tears. Eric switched on the TV in the room, made him comfortable on the couch and hoped that Nell didn't mind. After a few minutes Nell came into the living room with a big grin on her face: "Ah Beale! Making you at home already?" Eric got himself back into a sitting position, Nell also got onto the couch, wrapped her arms around him and together they watched some TV.

_AN: Thanks to- Through your bright for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Eric later looked at this watch and without waking the now sleeping Nell up; he carefully got up from the couch and whispered into her ear: „Sleep tight Rockstar." Nell then started to stir a little and when she didn't found her partner directly next to her, her eyes fluttered open immediately but she didn't found Eric around anywhere. She wondered where he was right now, slowly got up from the couch and then saw him as he came out of the bathroom because he had obviously to pee. They looked deeply into each other's eyes for a few minutes when Nell finally asked: "I can't sleep here alone tonight, can you stay with me Eric? Please?" She gave him her best puppy dog eyes look, knowing that he couldn't say no to her that way and after some thinking Eric finally answered: "Ok, let me just get some things from home. Ok?" Nell nodded, now brightly smiled at him and said: "Of course and thanks for everything." She kissed his forehead softly, what made him smile at her too and before he finally got out of the house: "You can always count me Rockstar, don't ever forget that."

Still with a big smile on her face, Nell then got into the bathroom, making herself ready to go to bed. Knowing that her partner would sleep besides her, made her feel very secure, maybe tonight was the first night ever that she wasn't feeling so disturbed because of the nightmare that haunted her the past nights. She surely felt so secure when having Eric around her, his presence alone assured her that nothing would happen to her. While continuing to prepare herself to go to the bed, she was totally on cloud nine the entire time and really never ever felt so happy before. Meanwhile Eric tried his best to not let his thoughts about Nell distract him too much of driving but he surely asked himself how their relationship would certainly change things between them and he surely would make sure that this whole thing would hold for a very long time. Jack hadn't deserved her in the first place, she needed someone that really loved her and he would never ever break her heart like that. As he finally reached his house, he got a message from Kensi on his mobile phone: *I and the guys are going to drink something in our favorite bar, you want to come?* Kensi

He typed a short answer into his phone after he had opened the front door of his apartment and then made his way first into the bedroom to pack some clothes in a black bag, which he took from his closet. One obvious popped up in his mind: What would his other team mates think about the fact, that they were a couple now, when they find it out? All of them would probably happy for them, that the resident geeks finally stopped beating around the bush, in the end he didn't know himself why he had kept his feelings for her hidden from everybody around him for so long.

_Flashback_

"_You need stop this video Eric." Sam said over his headset to Eric at OSP sounding a little alarmed because the uploading of the video file was already in progress and proceeded very fast. Eric's hand flew as fast they could over the keyboard and finally he triumphantly announced to Callen and Sam: "Video has been disabled." _

"_What did you just do?" Hetty asked him, who had stood directly next to him the whole time_

_He answered with in his standard geek language way and since she didn't understand anything of what he said she answered with a questioning look on her face: "In English Mister Beale."_

_In his best non chalant voice he answered: "I broke the internet."_

_Then Nell punched him from the side and for a short moment he wondered what that was about. *Does that mean she loves me?* Eric asked himself, since he had told her that very stupid sounding story that girls, who loved him in the past always punched him. _

_End Flashback_

Eric smiled to himself as he then remembered some more special moments between him and his "Rockstar", like he always called her because Nell loved that nickname. Meanwhile Nell was lying in bed, reading a book and thought to herself: _*did I really kiss Eric tonight? * _On a few occasions she certainly got a little jealous, when she would see Eric with another woman at OSP but if anyone would have asked her about that she would certainly have denied it. When she heard the familiar sound of doorbell, she her book back on her nightstand, tightly hugged and kissed Eric on one cheek when he had finally stepped through her apartment door.

A little bit later the two were lying in bed together and Eric had wrapped both his arms around the tiny body of his girlfriend. After a few minutes of comfortable silence between them Nell broke the silence between the two by saying: "I just wanted to thank you again for helping me through this difficult time, I honestly don't know what I would do without you." Eric, who had turned around to face Nell then answered: "That's what partners are supposed to do for each other." He softly stroke one of Nell's cheeks, planted a short and sweet kiss on her forehead and the two just smiled at each other. They did a lot of talking for quite a while, for example discussing if they should tell anybody at work that they were a couple now and what the reactions would be. Nell finally got pretty tired, so the two decided to go to sleep but Eric drifted off to sleep, he softly whispered into his girlfriend's ear: "Sweet Dreams Rockstar." Nell had a slight smile on her face as Eric used the nickname; he had given her since she had started working at OSP. _*What a shame that I haven't got an appropriate Nickname for him.*_

_AN: Thanks to- ger 2 de for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- crazy woman loves you for reviewing this story, thanks to- sunset sam for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list and for adding this story to his/her story alert subscription, thanks to- through your bright eyes for adding me to his/her favorite Authors list and reviewing this story._

_I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day Nell slowly turned around in bed, only to find the side where had slept empty. Yawning shortly she finally got out of bed, made her way to the kitchen and was totally surprised of the sight that presented itself in front of her when she finally reached the doorframe of the kitchen. Eric was totally busy with making fresh orange with the squeezer that she had rarely used in the past, so he didn't notice that Nell had entered the room. "Wow this looks really cool but you really didn't have to do this Eric." Eric finally turned around to face her and answered with a big smile on his face: "I'm glad you like it Rockstar and wasn't anything that took a lot of my time."

Nell stepped nearer to Eric, wrapped his around his neck and softly kissed him on the mouth, he deepened the kiss and for a few minutes time became unimportant for them. Nell was the first to finally draw away and then said: "I don't know about you but I'm totally starving." Eric then got the bread and then the two finally started eating their breakfast and during that Nell even surprised him with announcing that she would be back at work today, what certainly made Nell ask him: "You think that we should tell the others about us?" Eric had to think about that for a quite a while and finally said: "I think we should keep quiet about the whole thing at first and I think the others will figure it out sooner then we think anyway. " Nell was totally in with Eric on this, she surely loved dating Eric but she didn't want it to interfere with their work. The two continued eating the big breakfast, which Eric had prepared for them, they even fed some grapes to each other and drank the fresh orange juice that he made for them. After they were finally done with breakfast, Nell said to Eric before disappearing into the bathroom: "Thank you Thank you, that was definitely the best breakfast I've ever had, we should repeat this very soon." She then kissed him on his right cheek and then made herself ready for work in the bathroom. She was happy to be finally back at work today, her colleagues surely had missed her lot and she surely had missed them a lot.

Fortunately for her the whole healing process had faster than expected by the doctors that taken care of her during the whole rehabilitation process, she was surely happy being finally back at work because she couldn't stand it sitting at home and doing nothing. When she was done with brushing her teeth, she got into the shower, let the warm water cascade down her body and enjoyed every minute of it. Dating Eric made her happier than she was ever before, she didn't regret it one minute kissing Eric yesterday because she just felt that was the right time to act on her feelings. She finally was done with showering, wrapped a towel around her body, made her way back into her bedroom and said to Eric: "You can have the bathroom now." For a few seconds Eric stared at Nell's body because he had never seen like this but quickly enough he collected himself again and said: "Ok thanks."

In their own cars the two finally made their way to work, to not make it that obvious at work that something big had changed between. The two had certainly enjoyed every minute they had spent together, Eric was the first one to reach the OSP and parked his car at his usual spot. When he entered the building he was greeted by Deeks: "Hey Eric, you're a little later than usual. You had any car problems?"

"No car problems Deeks but thanks about worrying about me." Eric replied and then went upstairs to his usual workplace, smiled a little to himself as he knew that today he would be reunited with his partner at work but the others didn't know that yet. Nell finally parked her green beetle at a free parking spot directly next to Eric's car and with a big smile on her face she entered OSP. Hetty was the first one of the team to welcome her back to work: "Miss Jones, I think that I can speak for all of us that certainly missed you and are glad to have you back at work." Then the others came one by one to gather around her, tightly hugged her and all said how great it was to have her back at work and that they had totally missed her. Finally she went up to Eric, who was certainly anxiously waiting for her at their office at OSP and as she wanted to sit down in her chair, Eric pulled her into his lab and started to tickle her a little. Nell couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes and pleaded with her best puppy dog eyes look: "Please stop, I'm ticklish Eric. Please?" She swung her arms around his neck and even if one of their team mates could come up to them they made out a little. Later on this day they finally had a case to work on and as the two lovebirds had expected some of their team mates had noticed the changed behavior of Eric at work but quickly dismissed it because it was obvious that Eric was just happy to have his partner back at his side, the geek dream team of OSP finally reunited. Finally there was a new case for the team to work on, Eric and Nell were totally sure that they could separate their private life from work and the two surely didn't want to be the number one talked about topic between their colleagues.

Secretly under the table the two were holding hands when they were alone, each of them enjoying every minute of showing affection to each other that way. During the day when they had nothing to do Eric asked: "Hey Rockstar, I want to get you out on our first official date to that nice Italian restaurant I know that's not far away from my place." The two were now facing each other as Nell had also turned around her chair into Eric's direction, smiled brightly at him and said: "Sounds good, I love Italian food." She kissed him on one cheek and Eric then said: "So see you at your place after work Rockstar."

_AN: Thanks to- eurekancla for adding for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- Pondera 2.0 for adding this story to her story alert subscription. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After the work day was finally finished, the two lovebirds left OSP being the last two at the office, most of the team members had already left for home. Both of them were really excited about their date tonight, definitely Eric's biggest dream ever would finally come true tonight: A date with the smart and beautiful looking Nell Jones, who he had fallen deeply in love with since their first meeting ever.

_Flashback_

_Nell took a little scanner out of her pocket, as she finally had entered the office at Research Institute and started to check the room for listening devices. When no listening devices where discovered, she activated her earpiece and said: "Alright Eric can you hear me?" _

"_Loud and Clear." _

_Everything seems to be pretty normal, no listening devices or cameras."_

"_Shoot somebody's at the door." Nell said when it suddenly knocked on the door, she made her way to the door, opened it only a bit and saw a nice looking tall man standing in front of her. *I think he's actually quite attractive. Those arms are so muscular but I shouldn't be drooling right now, damn it!" "Hey I don't want to bother you; I just saw you come in and wanted to say hello and welcome." _

"_Hello and thank, come one in." Nell opened the door a little wider to let JT into the office and then carefully closed again._

"_Thanks."_

"_Sure."_

"_So you are…?"_

"_Oh, I'm JT; my call sign was Thruster because I was a fighter pilot before I had to jump out over falludsha and burned my retina and now I'm flying a desk."_

_Back at OSP, Eric rolled his eyes a little and said barely audible: "Oh brother…" _

"_So you're replacing Brent?" JT asked now Nell, who enjoyed still every minute of talking with him and maybe sensed a little jealousy in Eric's last comment but now wasn't really the time to think about her partner's feelings. So she finally focused again on talking with JT and answered his question after stepping back to her desk with a question on her own: "Is it true that he died?" _

"_Yeah they said he shot himself."_

"_Oh what a gossip…his calls sign should have jente." Eric said loud enough over her ear piece for her to hear it._

"_So it was suicide?" _

"_You can say that, his wife also worked here and they always fought so much that they were never allowed on the same projects. "_

"_This is for you." JT said after a short pause_

"_For me?" Nell asked a little perplex_

"_Yes that should get you up to date on the recent projects." Eric always liked to get a little competitive with Nell and as he also saw this whole thing as one, he couldn't stop the following comment from escaping off his lips: "And his fly is open." As Nell looked down on JT, Eric almost jumped up and down in triumph in OSP but only grinned a little in the end. JT was a little embarrassed by the whole situation so he quickly left the office. _

"_What are you? Eight?"_

_End Flashback_

She finally arrived home; she first made her way to the bedroom and searched for the right outfit for the date with Eric tonight. It proved a lot harder then she thought at the first place picking the right outfit for her first date with Eric because she really wanted to look extra nice for him. Meanwhile Eric was also in a big dilemma regarding his outfit for tonight but not because of the much stuff he had to choose from, it was the lack of appropriate clothes from his closet that made it so difficult in the end. He finally got that one good looking pair of jeans out of his closet together with a nice looking shirt and as he put all that on his bed he thought to himself: _* Wow! I really didn't know that I had such smug looking outfits in my closet.* _

This kind of clothes made him really feel a lot uncomfortable, because he always wear Khaki Shorts at Work and a short sleeved shirt but this was something special for him, he really didn't want Nell to think that their first date wasn't important for them. He finally decided to shower before he would put the new clothes on and wondered the whole time if Nell maybe had the same outfit problems as him.

At the moment Nell was busy with putting on a light make up and putting the final touch on hair. As she was finally done with getting ready she went into the living room, sat down in front of the TV and anxiously waited for Eric's arrival. Nell was a little nervous because of their first date tonight, sure had always noticed some slight attraction between them but never ever had she imagined in her wildest dreams to end up together with Eric. Meanwhile Eric finally made his way to Nell's apartment, thinking about how she looked the tonight the entire drive in his black Honda Civic and also was kind of nervous because of their first date, because he surely wanted everything to run totally smooth without embarrassing himself in any way in front of his partner and now also girlfriend. Did the team maybe notice already about the change between the two NCIS techs? Hetty probably knew it already; you couldn't hide anything from the little ninja like Operations Manager of OSP. The others had probably been too busy with their work lately, to notice that one little thing just in front of them but deep down he knew that they would find out soon enough. He finally parked his car at Nell's apartment, closed the car door behind him and then reached the door of it after a short work from the parking spaces. As Nell opened him the door, he was absolutely stunned by her looks for quite a while, so that really didn't know what to say at first and that amused Nell a little, so she brightly grinned and him, waved a hand in front of his face and said: "Earth to Beale, are you there?" Eric blushed a little because he acted like a total idiot in front of his girlfriend and said: "Sorry Rockstar for spacing out. I must say you really look beautiful as always."

"Thanks Eric, you also dressed up very nice for tonight." Nell answered and cursed herself mentally for that answer sounding so awfully lame. After Nell had finally closed the apartment door with her keys from her purse, hand in hand the two made their way to Eric's Honda that stood in one of the parking spaces just outside the apartment complex where she lived. After an half hour drive, the two finally reached the Italian place that Eric had chosen for their first date and both of them were having a great time inside the restaurant with a lot of laughing. "This has been the best first date ever, thanks for the wonderful evening so far Eric." Nell said in between the bites of the meal later that evening.

"I'm glad you like it so far Rockstar, but the evening is young so far and have a little surprise up my sleeve before this wonderful evening with you ends." Eric said with a little grin on his face and continued with eating his meal. "Can you give me any clues on where we going tonight?" Nell asked to try to get any information out of Eric. "No clues, I'm just going to say: You will definitely like it." Nell tried her best puppy dog eyes look but Eric wouldn't budge even when she massaged his knee with her bare feet a little bit.

"Nell Jones, are you trying to seduce me?" Eric asked

"Maybe." Nell answered totally cryptically with a little grin on her face.

_AN: Thanks to- Pondera 2.0 for reviewing the story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After Eric had finally paid the bill at the restaurant, hand in hand the two lovebirds went back to his car and even if Nell tried her very best to get the information out of him, he wouldn't say what the big surprise was this evening. He certainly had been totally on cloud nine the entire evening; it was really hard concentrating on driving the whole time because he was still now blown away by the stunning outfit that Nell wore tonight. He always loved her outfits she wore at work but tonight was different, maybe because of their first official date as a couple and Nell had wanted to look extra nice tonight.

"You're excited about the surprise I have for you tonight Rockstar?" Eric asked his girlfriend without looking away from the road, knowing how easily he would start to drool when he would look at her now and he certainly didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the girl of his dreams. Nell on the other side was completely elsewhere with her thoughts, so she didn't register the question at first but after a while she finally said: "Yes I'm really excited and the evening has been wonderful so far, thanks for that. On my personal rating scale for date you definitely get a hundred from me and that's because you have been so kind and caring, helping me through this difficult time and I honestly don't know what I would have done without you." Eric was certainly flattered by that comment, he was glad that his support meant that much to her and as he had to stop at a red light, he shortly turned around to face her and said: "No need to thank me, you would have probably done the same thing for me." She gave him short peck on his cheek, brightly smiled at him and as green light finally signaled them to continue their drive she said: "Don't be too modest Beale; you're such a great guy and the best partner ever."

"Thanks Rockstar." Eric replied as they took another turn with the car, getting closer and closer to his big surprise he had in store for tonight. They finally reached their destination, Eric asked Nell to close her eyes and he took her then by the hand and led her all the way. After some minutes of walking through the grass Nell asked: "I probably sound like a whining little kid but: "When are we there?" She then made her best sad face in Eric's direction, that made Eric certainly laugh a little and then he finally answered: "Just a little further in that direction Rockstar." Nell reluctant did as she was told and a few minutes later Eric indicated her to stop by softly touching her shoulder and that touch of his hand sent a very positive chill up her spine and right up to Cloud Nine. His touch almost had become something like a drug to her, but she was quickly interrupted in her train of thought as Eric instructed her to open her eyes and she did she was at first totally stunned by the wonderful sight in front of her. She looked up into the clear night sky at the stars and finally said: "Wow! That's a beautiful sight Eric, thanks for bringing me here." The two lay down in the grass, Nell softly rested her head on her boyfriend's front and he had wrapped one arm around her tiny body and together they enjoyed the wonderful sight of the sky they had at this evening.

During the evening Eric saw a Star lite coming by and said to Nell while pointing at it: "Look there's a star lite Rockstar." Nell quickly looked into the direction he pointed at, looked at the star lite the whole time till it had passed and then he asked her: "What did you wish for yourself?" Nell grinned at him and while playfully hitting him a little with her hand she answered: "I can't tell you that silly, or else the whish won't come true." With a big grin on his face he then said: "So you don't want to tell me huh? I think I have to work my special "interrogation techniques" on you, to get the information I want." Before Nell could do anything, he rolled her on her back and started to tickle her. She had to laugh so much, some tears of joy made her way down her cheeks and even she tried best to get out of this mess by begging Eric wouldn't stop. They fooled around a little more by rolling each other through the grass, didn't care about the fact that they probably got each other's clothes dirty in the process and time got unimportant to them right at this moment. After the two were finally out of breath, Eric helped her up from the ground and together they watched the moon go down before they finally went back to Eric's Honda. Hand in Hand the two NCIS techies enjoyed the whole walk back to the car in a comfortable silence and Eric was definitely the happiest person ever right now at this moment. He surely had dreamed of this since a special bond had been established between them, surely It had been weird to work with her at OSP at first because Eric had been used to working alone for a long time but after a while he couldn't imagine a work day at NCIS without Nell anymore. She certainly had some weird habits, like she used to finish his sentences when she first had started working with him but she was a very smart person, even smarter than him what had shocked him a little in the first place.

_Flashback_

_Nell and Eric sat at their usual workstations like always, even if she had been working on something the whole she surely had heard about Sam's missing Challenger and that Eric had the "pleasure" of searching it for the former Navy Seal. _

_Eric was surely frustrated about not having found Sam's car yet, so he turned to Nell and said in a clearly frustrated tone: "I can't believe that I can find this jeep but not Sam's challenger."_

"_If it's on the road it will show up, I mean nothing can hide from Kaleidoscope." _

_As he stared just blankly at the Computer screen, not reacting to her question she asked: "You have started a Kaleidoscope search?" Eric now turned away from his computer and answered: "Not exactly, I hacked myself into the LAPD Database and when it's found I will get notified." _

"_So what are we waiting for?"_

"_We?" Eric asked a little confused about Nell's question_

"_I mean: You."_

"_But Hetty said to Sam, to not use any federal resources for private matters." Eric pointed out to his co worker_

"_Is that the same rebel that completed Level 5 of Warriors Quest on the big screen of OPS? The same rebel that ate Oreo's at ops without a napkin and broke the Internet?" Nell asked _

"_Ok Beale let's do this!" Eric answered now ready to go_

_End Flashback_

As they had reached Eric's Honda, he opened her the door on her side like a real gentleman always does and as they made their way back home both of them were totally lost in their thoughts about the wonderful evening they had spent together.

_AN: Thanks to- Miss tarletone for adding this story to her favorite stories list and to Pondera 2.0 for reviewing the story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review._

_Any constructive suggestions to improve the story are more than welcome and I will try my best to integrate them into the story._


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next day Nell arrived first at OPS, after she had shortly greeted her colleagues at the bullpen in a very happy mood she stepped through the sliding doors and stopped in her tracks, as she saw a nice looking vase with some red roses standing beside her workstation. She admired the flowers for quite a while, brightly smiled as she took the little card out of the red roses bouquet and silently read through the card: _*Last night's date was great, it actually was my best first date ever. I loved your dress; I couldn't stop looking at it the whole evening._ _You looked totally amazing; in my sleep I wished that you would have lied next to me._

_Lots of Love Eric*_

When she finally wanted to sat down at her workstation at OPS, Eric came through the sliding doors behind her and she turned around to face him, tightly hugged his muscular body and gave him a short kiss on one cheek. "Thanks for the flowers, they are wonderful." Nell said after she had drawn away from Eric, she really loved flowers and she loved receiving them from Eric. "I'm glad you liked them Rockstar." Eric answered, but their little intimate time together was soon interrupted as Hetty came through the doors of OPS and announced: "We've got a new case, please summon the team Mister Beale." Eric then left the room to summon the team upstairs and discreetly smiled at Nell before stepping through the sliding doors. "Nice flowers Miss Jones." Hetty shortly commented after Eric had summoned the team in the room what made Nell a little bit uncomfortable, because deep down the little mighty Operations Manager knew who the flowers where from. Before Eric and Nell could start the briefing for the new case Kensi then also recognized the flowers on Nell's desk: "Nell you've got a secret admirer we don't know about yet? Those are some really nice looking flowers!" Nell shared short glance with Eric, searching for little help in his eyes but as she didn't found any she quickly said: "I sent those flowers to myself, because I love them so much. I have no "thing" going with a man right now." Kensi looked a little surprised about this answer but then just shortly answered to put the topic to rest now: "Oh ok, that's cool I think."

With that problem out of the way, Eric was happy to finally start the briefing for their newest case by putting one personal file of a woman in her twenties on the big screen: "This is Sandra Paulson, Marine Sargent who had recently returned from a special assignment in Afghanistan with her unit home to Los Angeles. She was shot yesterday morning, getting in the cross fire at bank robbery between the robbers and the police. Metro Police identified one of the robbers as former Marine Captain Justin Black, he had escaped from prison two weeks ago and had gone dark since that." Eric finished his part of the briefing and Nell then put the photo of Black on the screen and contributed her part to the mission briefing: "Black has been discharged from active duty and sent to prison after the Marine Corps had found out that he had sold secret information to Russians. Since Paulson's security keycard is missing, this case has a high priority because when this sensitive data gets into the wrong hands we have a big national security problem on our hands." After the briefing was finally finished also Deeks, Callen and even Sam complimented her on the nice looking flowers standing in the middle of the two workstations, Nell had to do her very best to hide her discomfort about this whole situation since her colleagues would be now probably gossip about this for a while.

Later the two were glad to have some intimate time alone, Eric had pulled Nell in his lap, practically sensing the discomfort because of the whole situation right now. But their private moment was soon interrupted as Callen called with an assignment for Nell, she quickly got back to her workstation and got right to task at hand.

The two worked side by side on a very stressful case, she cheered him up and helped him as they were stuck in the current case. After the case was finally wrapped , a big heavy weight fell off Nell's shoulder's, she also had to watch a video of another kidnapped Marine, that had worked in the same unit with the victim being cruelly tortured. That had really shook her up, but she didn't want to show her vulnerability to anyone in the team and did her very best to help saving the kidnapped marine. But now as she sat here alone in OPS with Eric, with the stressful case finally finished all the tears broke out of her at once. Eric quickly went by Nell's side, wrapped his arms around her body and she cried continuously into Eric's chest. She was so thankful for him being always there at the right time. A few minutes passed by in the now dimly lit Ops Center, the two truly thought that they were the last ones at OSP but that proved to be wrong when Deeks suddenly came through the door and the two were in the middle of kissing each other.

Deeks finally made himself felt by loudly clearing his breath and said as the two finally had drawn away from each other: "Sorry to interrupt you guys but Callen asked me to ask you Eric, if you're are coming to our poker evening tonight." Both of them were clearly embarrassed by the whole situation and for a while there was an uncomfortable silence between them. Eric finally said: "Yeah sure I'm definitely coming to our Poker Night."

After Deeks had finally left the room, Nell only said to Eric: "That was awkward."

"It surely was, they definitely have something to gossip about now." Eric shortly replied after that they said goodbye to each other and Eric thought: _*How do I get myself out of this mess?*_

_AN: Please read and review, I hope this chapter is a little more interesting than the last one. I enjoy writing this story but right now, I have a kind of writers block, maybe anyone has good suggestions how to continue and improve this story. _


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The same day, all the guys set at the poker table at Deeks place and in the middle of poker Deeks was the one who finally broke the silence: „I surely don't want to distract anyone from the game but I have one question for you Eric: How long did you and Nell have a „thing" going?" Sam and Callen looked perplexed at Deeks, because they apparently didn't notice that one tiny little detail, even if it had been right in front of them the whole time. That question made Eric surely blush a little, even if really didn't know why this whole thing was making him feeling so uncomfortable: _*I Should probably admit it right now or there are definitely going to continue to grill me about this the rest of the evening* _ "Ok Guys you've got me, me and Nell have been together after she got kidnapped at her last undercover assignment." A huge weight finally had been taken off Eric's shoulders, he was surely happy to have got that thing off his chest even if he and Nell had agreed to keep it a secret for a while.

"Good job Casanova, it's about time you two finally get together." Callen said with a big grin on his face and then also Sam joined in by saying: "Yeah, you have been dancing around the bush for far too long, so then its official we have our first OPS couple: our two tech geeks!" The four then finally continued with their little Poker Game and Deeks reminded Sam that he owed him twenty bucks now, because he had won the bet considering Eric and Nell, their first official couple at OSP.

"You guys have a serious gambling problem." Eric said with a grin on his face, because that behavior was so typical for his colleagues.

Meanwhile Nell was sitting at home alone, being kind of bored right at the moment, watching some TV but was just continuously zipping through the Channels. Suddenly the bell of her apartment rung, Nell wondered who was at her door at this time of the day: _*Maybe that's Kelly* _ Nell made her way to the door and said a little surprised as she saw Kensi standing in front of the door: "Hi what brings you hear? And how do you have my address?"

"A little birdy as let me know, that you were alone tonight and needed some company and I have my sources that I can't disclose to you." Kensi answered with a grin on her face and now waiting for Nell to let her in. Nell already knew how she got her address and why Kensi was really here, but she didn't bother mentioning it because she decided to play along in that game. "Yeah, I could really use some company tonight, feeling a little bored because there's nothing good on TV so come on in." The two then stepped into the living of Nell's apartment, Kensi had brought along with herself some typical "chick flicks" for their first ever ladies night, that had surely been a very spontaneous idea from Kensi. The two sat down on the couch with some popcorn and they watched the romantic drama "The Other Woman" with Natalie Portman. In the middle of watching the movie and eating some in between: "So how's your love life so far? You have a thing going with anyone in particular?" Nell knew where this question was leading to but she didn't quite know for if she should tell Kensi right now about her relationship with Eric.

Kensi practically saw the wheels spinning by the very thoughtful expression on her face and so she finally said: "I'm happy for you two, Deeks told me about after he had caught you kissing in OPS." _*I'm definitely going to kill Deeks for that* _Nell thought to herself and after taking another handful of popcorn she replied: "Thanks, Kens I appreciate that and I'm very happy with Eric." Then she smiled at her colleague and didn't really know anymore why she had wanted to keep that a secret in the first place. The two girls then continued chatting about any stuff that came to their minds, of course the first date between her and Eric was a topic, that Kensi wanted to know every detail about and Nell filled her in with all the need to know stuff. Back at Eric's house, Eric couldn't stop thinking about Nell the whole time, she seemed to be okay with the fact that he was having a little poker game at his house with the guys but was probably missing a lot right now. "I'm not in this round guys; I'm going to call Nell right now." Eric suddenly said got up from his chair at the table in his living room and grabbed his phone to dial his girlfriend's home number.

Nell quickly made her way to her phone on the other side of the living room, as she heard it loudly ringing and smiled brightly as she had a look at the Caller ID. "Hey I miss you so much, how's your poker night with the guys? I hope your winning at the moment." Nell said before Eric could say anything but that just made him think to himself _*I love her for being always so much full of energy.* _Then he finally said: "I miss you too Rockstar and of course I'm winning, I wasn't called the Poker Genius for nothing!"

"Sure Beale but don't let that get that to your head." Nell replied

In the background Kensi watched this scene a little bit, using all her discreet observation skills that she usually used out in the field as a undercover agent. "So you have anything planned for tomorrow?" Eric then asked, because he had plans for him and Nell but it was surely a complete surprise. Nell wondered what Eric had for them in mind for tomorrow but instead of asking him that right as said: "No, I haven't got any plans for tomorrow, where are we going tomorrow?" Eric grinned brightly as Nell asked him where they would be going tomorrow but he surely wasn't going to give her any clue because he loved to surprise her: "Great to hear that Rockstar, I pick you up at your place tomorrow at seven ok?"

"Ok see you tomorrow and say hello to Callen, Sam and Deeks for me."

"Will do, good night Rockstar and I will be dreaming of you tonight."

"You will be part of my dreams to, good night Eric." With a big smile on her face Nell finally hung up the phone and returned to Kensi on the couch.

_AN: Thanks to- Crazy Woman loves you for reviewing this story, I hope you like this chapter, please read & review._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kensi finally left Nell's place and standing in the doorframe of her apartment she said with a grin on her face: „So I guess I see you at work tomorrow Misses Beale. " Nell grinned back at her, playfully hit her colleague on the shoulder and said: "Stop that Kens, me and Eric aren't a married couple yet." Then on a more serious note Kensi said her final goodbye: "Bye Nell, see you at work tomorrow and you two are really the perfect couple."

Nell blushed a little and thanked her timidly and then finally closed the door of her apartment, and then she went back to the living room, plopped down on the black leather couch in the middle of the room and wondered what Eric was doing right at this moment. Before falling asleep on the couch in the living room, the door bell rung, Nell slowly got up from her lying position and made her way to the door feeling a little dazed at this late hour of the day. She practically jumped into Eric's arms as she saw him standing in front of her apartment and kissed him softly, while having arms wrapped around his neck. Then she looked deeply into his eyes, smiled brightly and asked: "What are you doing here? I thought we will see us again tomorrow, had a little a change of heart?" Eric smiled back at her and said: "Couldn't get any sleep without you lying right next to me Rockstar, so can I stay here tonight?" Nell laughed and answered: "Of course you can silly, come on in, you can make yourself comfortable on my bed while I get myself ready for bed first."

Meanwhile Eric was putting on his pyama in Nell's bedroom and was looking forward to tightly wrap his strong arms around her tiny body. Sleeping on the side of Nell had become something of a drug since they had gotten together and all that butterflies in his stomach, really made him feel like he was in heaven when he was spending time with the wonderful Nell Jones.

A little the two lay in bed together, Nell's head comfortably resting on Eric's front, he softly stroke her head with his free hand and Nell she enjoyed every minute of the soft touch from him. "How did Sam and Callen react to the fact that we are together now?" Nell asked and turning her head a little bit around to face Eric.

"Sam kept joking about how much of a Casanova I became and Callen joked when the marriage would be." Eric replied with a smirk on his face and that reactions from her colleagues made her laugh very much. They just looked deeply into each other's eyes for a while and Eric thought: _*I love it when she laughs, you simply can't do anything else than join in laughing.*_ "Hey why so thoughtful all over sudden Beale?"

"Oh I'm just thinking…about you Rockstar, because that's really the one thing I can think off all these days." Eric said with a smirk on his face and then turned her around on her back, before she could anything about it and started to tickle her. They kept messing around for quite a while, before the two were finally totally exhausted that they fell asleep side by side, tightly cuddled together giving each other the very much needed warmth in this little cold night.

But Nell didn't really sleep that well on that night; the memory of her abduction on her recent undercover assignment kept haunting her the whole night and made her toss and turn the whole time. She suddenly sat up in bed, tears out of total fear forming on her face and she just couldn't get those cruel pictures out of her head, even if she tried her very best to get back to sleep. Eric woke up to the sobbing sound right next to him, tightly hugged her and softly whispered in her ear: "Shhh, I'm here Rockstar no one will be able to hurt you." It took quite a while till Nell finally calmed down again, Eric softly wiped some left over tears away with one thumb and with his arms tightly wrapped around her body she finally fell asleep again.

But the pictures about one of the worst days of her NCIS Career still kept bugging her a lot, being in this dark room all by herself with no way to escape sent chills down her spine. That was one of the reasons she would feel safer in OPS, knowing that Eric was there the whole time to protect her. She really enjoyed the warmth of his body; she even could lie forever never wanting to get up again, once she was lying next to him. Because of her nightmares one question popped up in her head: Was she really ready for work? Or should she take a break after all that had happened? Right now she didn't know the answer to that but she was very sure that Eric would be there for her; to help her overcome her fears and that she would soon have forgotten about the things that had happened to her. Eric once again opened his eyes and looked at the sleeping beauty right next to him, softly strokes her cheek without waking her and softly whispered in her ear: "Sleep well Rockstar." Then he wrapped his arms around the tiny body of her and vowed to himself that he would sure that nothing bad would ever happen to the love of his life again, even if that mean that he would have to take a bullet for her to survive.

_Flashback_

"_Soo I probably don't need this anymore." Nell said to Eric walking up to her workstation, as she tossed the earpiece she had worn during the recent undercover assignment. _

"_Soo that means….no more lunches with Thruster, I was just…." Eric started to say but Nell cut him off: "Jealous!" Eric felt a little taken aback by that statement and tried to defend himself: "No, I was just…looking out for you. I mean that's what partners do, right?"_

"_We're not partners." Nell replied shortly, of course she wasn't really mad at her colleague but she liked to mess him a little. "Kensi has Deeks, Callen has Sam and we are the partners of OPS, we are really the coolest and smartest people up here. I mean your IQ is like…." But then Nell suddenly left OPS and so Eric screamed after her: "Nell I'm sorry, partners?" _

_End Flashback_

_AN: Thanks to- Ele Kat for adding this story to her story alert subscription and for adding it to her favorite stories list. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Nell was the first one to open her eyes as the alarm clock on her nightstand was signaling them that it was time to get up. It took a while but finally Eric also opened his, brightly smiled at her and said: "Morning Rockstar, how are you feeling today?" Nell smiled back, kissed him on one cheek and replied: "I'm feeling very good right now and thanks for staying overnight; you're truly the best boyfriend a woman could wish for."

"Wow now you're really flattering me Rockstar. " Eric said blushed a little what made Nell answer with a smirk on her face: "Wow, never ever have I imagined in my wildest dreams seeing the super cool Eric Beale blush." Eric smiled back at her, got up into a sitting position and said: "I'm going to make us breakfast now, you stay there in bed and after I'm done we are going to have breakfast in bed. What do you think about that Rockstar?"

"Sounds like a very good plan to me, I must really say that I feel like in the seventh heaven right now." Nell replied before Eric finally got out of bed, she kissed him on one cheek and said as he had almost left the room to get to the kitchen: "I'm really starving so, you better be back with breakfast fast."

"Yes ma'am" Eric replied jokingly as he turned around one last time before leaving. Nell got up in a sitting position and thought to herself: _*Eric blushing for the first time that really made him look cuter than he already is. Damn it! I really should have made a photo of that. Maybe next time* _ Meanwhile in the kitchen Eric was also very lost in his own thoughts at the moment, while taking care of making breakfast for him and Nell because sleeping side by side with her for the first time ever in bed had been totally heaven for him. He would definitely make sure, that their relationship wouldn't interfere with their work because just like Nell he thought that any problems that might occur between shouldn't have any negative effect on their work. The Agents in the field all counted on them to their job right and Eric surely didn't want to disappoint his colleagues, he had just worked too hard to even get this job at the NCIS Undercover Unit here in LA.

When he was finally done with getting everything they needed for a good breakfast together, he put it on a tablet and then made his way back to the bedroom were his girlfriend was probably anxiously waiting for his arrival. As Eric finally put down the tablet on the bed, Nell looked at all the things that were on the tablet with big eyes and then finally said: "Wow this looks really great, thanks for making the best breakfast ever." Then the two sat down together on the bed and began eating and messing around a little in between bites. Both of them had really the time of their life and certainly weren't in any hurry to get out of the bed any time soon and Nell really couldn't feel better than she was feeling right now, having all this fun with Eric made her forget about that jerk Jack that had cheated on her. After they had finally ended their very long breakfast, the two tidied up the mess they had left on the bed and then Nell was the first one as always to take over the bathroom to get out of her pajamas and to fix her a little messed up hair a little bit. Eric still didn't want to tell her, what they would do together this evening, only assuring her that she would definitely like it and now Nell waited anxiously for the evening and really wondered what he would pull up his sleeve for their second date. Later that day the two went outside, to go in the nearby park and get some fresh air. Hand in hand the two walked through the park, after Nell had finally found a free parking space for her red mini cooper and enjoyed the shinning of the sun, which had unfortunately become rare these days.

Later Nell even got to escort Eric back home, because he needed to get some things and check his mail. As she finally entered Eric's little apartment, she was surprised to say the least, she truly hadn't expected Eric's apartment to look that tidied up like it did. While Eric was checking his mail, Nell sneaked into the bedroom, to have a little look into the wardrobe of him because all the time she had really wondered if he really had only Khaki Shorts in his closet When he entered the bedroom and saw Nell looking through his clothes he said while standing in the doorframe: "Found anything interesting Rockstar?" Nell turned around to face him and replied: "Yeah, I actually found out that you hide some normal trousers in here besides all the Hawaii Shirts and Khaki Shorts and that surprised me a little because I never see you were those at work."

"That's because I save them for special occasions like our date tonight. I think it's we get going now, because I have a dinner reservation at a nice Italian restaurant for us." Eric replied because he had spontaneously decided to tell her what he had in mind for this evening.

_Two hours later_

While the two were sitting at their reserved table, one woman was surveying them unsuspicious. It was Vanessa Elliot, Eric Beale's ex-girlfriend who was clearly surprised to see him here. _*How small the world is sometimes.*_ She got clearly a lot jealous when she saw another girl sitting right across to him. Surely things hadn't ended in the best way between them, what certainly had been her fault but she had changed a lot since then and seeing him now with another girl, caused long buried feelings to resurface again. As she turned her sight quickly back to her man that sat across her, she thought to herself: _*You are going to be mine again very soon Eric, one way or the other.* _

_AN: Thanks to- Ele Kat for reviewing this story. Since I don't that many reviews any more, I will soon put the story to an end with only two more chapters probably. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Vanessa unsuspciously kept on looking at Eric's table, wondering all the time if the girl across sitting his table was really his girlfriend or maybe just a colleague from work. She did her best to not look that often, because she didn't him to know yet that she was in the same restaurant as him. She then continued to listen to her friend Laura, who had spontaneously invited her to dinner in this fancy Italian Restaurant, what was just one block away from her apartment and Laura really had the feeling that she had to cheer up Vanessa after her latest boyfriend had broken up with her.

"Hey you're still with me?" Laura than suddenly asked her friend as she now clearly recognized that Vanessa had been totally somewhere else with her thoughts for quite some time now. "I'm totally with you, I'm maybe just a little bit tired, and that's all."

Laura clearly wasn't satisfied with her answer and decided to find out before this evening was over, what was distracting her colleague so much the entire time. Meanwhile at Nell's and Eric's table, they talked about eventual Ex-Boyfriends and Ex-Girlfriends: Nell said their only had been two guys she had a serious relationship with, Eric said there was only girl, but there "thing" didn't hold for that long because in the end they weren't as compatible as Eric had thought in the beginning. Eric spoke very casually about how he had to end it in the end because things had gotten way too weird between him and her. Of course he didn't know that his ex-girlfriend was sitting a few tables away from him and was spying on him and Nell. They laughed a lot the whole evening, till Nell excused herself from the table to go to the toilet and at that precise moment, Vanessa got up from her chair but Laura stopped her by holding her at arm's length and then said: "Where are you going?" She then turned her sight to that direction where her colleague had been looking at the whole time and then quickly added: "Isn't that your first boyfriend that computer geek Eric Beale? Don't tell me you want to go his table now and mess up his evening?"

Vanessa sighed mentally as Laura had completely read her like a book again and she really hated it, that her good friend knew her that well. *Messing up his evening* that was such a harsh way to describe her plan; she wanted to reconnect with her ex-boyfriend in a friendly way and see how things would go from there. Vanessa thought about for a moment, what was the best to say to draw her friend away from the opinion that she was planning on doing something stupid that she would probably regret afterwards she finally replied: "Of course I'm not ruining anybody's evening, I've changed a lot over the last two years, I promise you that I just want to say hello and see what he's been up to since we've met the last time."

For a moment she thought about all that her friend had just said and then she finally replied: "Oh ok, then permission granted, you know Vanessa that I just want to avoid that you do anything stupid." With a *Whatever you say* look on her face Vanessa finally made her way to Eric's table, who was totally lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice his ex-girlfriend approaching his table he had reserved for him and Nell. As he finally looked up from the menu card, he was very surprised and also a little shocked as he saw a face in front of him, that he hadn't seen for almost half a decade now: Vanessa his first ever girlfriend. After he had finally collected himself again he said: "Oh hey Vanessa, haven't seen you in quite a while, how have you been?" Vanessa flashed her best smile at Eric, trying to flirt a little and then finally said: "If been good so far, I have a quite good paid job here in LA but I must really say: Even after all these years I still have feelings for you, I still love you Eric and I totally know that the end of our relationship was totally my fault. But I've changed since then and I want you back, do you think we can try it again?"

Eric was shocked as he heard that words coming out of the mouth of his ex-girlfriend and he clearly hadn't expected that tonight. But before Eric could say anything, Vanessa suddenly kissed him and really tightened her grip so that he couldn't push him off her. Meanwhile Nell had finally returned to the table and just stopped dead in her tracks, really feeling like she was having some sort of déjà vu here. Then she walked up to Eric as Vanessa had finally ended the kiss, slapped him really hard onto his right cheek and stormed out of the restaurant before Eric had any opportunity to say something to explain himself.

"Wait Nell, I can explain this, this really isn't what it looks like." Eric screamed after her but Nell continued her way out of the restaurant. Eric was feeling so embarrassed as almost the whole restaurant was looking at him, then he shot an evil glare at his ex-girlfriend and said: "Are you out of your mind? I love that woman that with us was a mistake in the first place, I will surely never ever make again! Get out of my sight! Just leave me alone!" Vanessa friend was fuming as this whole drama hadn't gone unnoticed to her, so she quickly called for a nearby waitress, paid the check in cash and then quickly left the restaurant without saying another word.

Right now she felt so stupid, falling for that one lie of her so called "friend" and all she wanted was getting home as fast as she could.

After Eric had finally paid for all, he plopped down outside on the concrete with his hands covering his face and thought about how well the evening had started. Meanwhile Nell was almost home and found it very difficult to concentrate on driving her red Mini Cooper, because tears kept streaming down her face. _* How could he do this do me?* _Was that one very nagging question that kept on popping up in her head and made her even sadder.

_AN: Thanks to- Ele Kat for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Crazy Woman loves you for reviewing this story, Thanks to- A and K for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list and to his/her story alert subscription and for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Even if it was really getting late that evening, Eric was still sitting on a bench near to the restaurant, still totally shocked of the events of tonight's date with Nell. He was on the other side amazed in a negative way, how fast a wonderful and romantic date could turn into his worst nightmare and he didn't even see it coming. But how could this happen? Was that one nagging question that was probably haunting him for the past hour now and how could he fix things between him and Nell? After continuing to sit there for a couple more minutes, he finally grabbed his mobile phone out of his pocket to dial one number that would at least solve one of his problems tonight: getting home. Of course he could have called a cab to bring him home, but he desperately needed an advice that he decided that it was the better decision to call Deeks. While waiting for the LAPD Detective to finally pick up the phone, Eric couldn't help it but think off Nell and wondered what she was doing right at this moment.

Meanwhile Nell had finally parked her red Mini Cooper at her usual parking spot in front of her little at apartment and did her best to stop crying so her neighbor Molly wouldn't bother her at this hour of the day, if she was still awake this late. No matter how hard she tried, tears still kept streaming down her face and all the little make up she had put on for what was supposed to be a wonderful date with Eric was totally ruined but she really couldn't care any less right now. While opening her front door with her keys, continuously wiping away the tears that streamed like a waterfall down her face that one awful scene kept playing back in her mind, as much as she wanted to block this out of her mind right at this moment. When she finally took off her coat, she made a beeline to the kitchen, grabbed a big cup of ice from the fridge and then plopped down on the couch in front of the TV. Back at Marty Deeks apartment, he and his partner were having a spontaneous movie night at his place when suddenly his phone rang. Deeks wondered who would call at this late hour of the day, as he looked at the Caller ID he was kind of concerned but hoped to be proven wrong. He finally then picked up: "Hey Eric, what's up bro is everything okay? It's kind of uncommon of you to call at this late hour; I and Kensi are having a little movie night at my place. "

"Sorry to interrupt you guys, I guess I will call myself a cab than. Eric replied but before he could hang up Marty replied: "No need to be sorry bro, you don't have to call a cab to get home, you say where you are, I'll pick you pick and we talk about the rest when I get there ok?" Eric thought about that suggestion from the LAPD Liaison Officer and then replied: "Oh ok, bye see you later." After Eric had hung up, Deeks grabbed his coat and said to Kensi: "I'm going to pick up Eric now and I'll be back shortly Kiki, so make you at home while I'm away."

Kensi thought it was kind of weird that Deeks had to pick up Eric at this late hour of the evening, so she asked: "Why isn't Eric calling himself a cab to get home?" Deeks turned one more time around to face Kensi and said: "Because he really is in serious need for some guy time and let me this: as a cop I know when somebody isn't telling me the whole story."

"Oh ok, please tell Eric if he needs an advice of a woman, he can call me anytime he wants."

"Will do Kiki, see you later." The LAPD Detective replied before finally leaving his apartment and wondering on the way to his car in what trouble the one half of the geek dream team of OPS at gotten himself into. While waiting for Deeks to arrive Eric thought about one question over and over: Could he have somehow prevented this whole evening to turn into total disaster? It didn't take him long to realize that he had really screwed up big time, even if his ex-girlfriend had practically shoved her tongue into his mouth, so that he had not another choice then kissing her, but how could he fix things between him and Nell now? His word wasn't so much believable now, since Vanessa had decided to screw with him big time on this evening, but he was determined to win her back no matter how much it cost.

He finally saw Deeks car coming up, got up from the park bench and as soon Eric got in the car, the LAPD Detective asked: "What happened tonight, you sounded kind of sad on the phone?"

"I had a wonderful date with Nell in that fancy Italian restaurant, till my ex-girlfriend showed up, practically shoved her tongue in my mouth and you can imagine that Nell didn't like to see that at all." Marty was speechless for quite a while, because now he felt really sorry for the Computer Geek and after a longer pause he finally said: "Wow that's heavy bro, so what you're going to do now?"

"I don't know, I think for now I just want to get home maybe it's better if I give her some space." Eric replied, sighed and already knew that tonight wouldn't be a good night for him, because he would probably lie awake all night, thinking about ways to fix this mess.

The rest of the drive to Eric's apartment went by in silence because Eric wasn't really in the mood to talk anymore and Marty totally understood that. He wished he knew a way to somehow help his colleague and good buddy but right now he couldn't think of any good idea. The Work week went by faster than anyone thought, Callen and the rest of the team were really worried about their two techs and almost considered intervening but Hetty told them not to because the two geeks really needed to work out their problems with each other without any outside interference.

_AN: Thanks to- through your bright eyes for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Eric had tried his best talking to Nell about what had happened one their second date but she still couldn't forgive him what had happened, because she now had trust issues concerning Eric. Their colleagues watched this whole thing progress always from a safe distance, because they all didn't either Eric or Nell to think that they spied on them. As the team was all sitting together at the basement minus the two techs of course Callen couldn't watch this anymore and so he finally said to the team: "Boatshed everybody, NOW!"

The rest of the team of course wondered why Callen would sent them to the boatshed, but they all got up from their desks without any protest and followed him to the boatshed. Hetty was kind of confused, where all her field agents where going in the middle of a case but then she thought to herself: _*Mister Callen will surely explain everything, after that little spontaneous team meeting is done* _As the complete team was gathered in the boatshed, standing around the little wooden table in the little room right next to interrogation, Callen addressed the team: "So as you all know by now, our former dream team of OPS hasn't been talking to each other for over a week now. That wouldn't be so much on my radar, when I hadn't noticed recently that whole bickering between the two affects their work. So we need ideas, to we get those two to solve their problems with each other."

They all thought about that for a couple of minutes when Deeks was the first one to come up with an idea: "I think we all agree that we need to lock them in one room, so that they will definitely get their problems out of the way. Nell of course still loves in my opinion, but she has a hard time trusting Eric again after what have happened but has also not given him enough room to prove that he's trustworthy. " Deeks had gotten the most insight into this whole thing, since he and Eric had talked a lot and Deeks could really tell all this time that Eric had been a total mess, since the unofficial break up between him and Nell. After doing a lot of thinking, about how they could the two techs back together the team had finally put together a plan and they all surely hoped that it would work without any flaws. The team finally returned to the bullpen and since their fearless leader probably already suspected something regarding their plans, Callen had her sworn to secrecy. Hetty totally trusted him with his plan and of course she really hoped that it worked without any problems, since the performance at work of both had been affected because of the fight they now had for over one week now. Despite the bad situation between their two techs, they of course had also to focus on the case at hand but did a final planning before all of them left Headquarters in different directions. Meanwhile Nell sat at her workstation, pretending to be totally caught up in her work for the current case but the truth was: for the first time in this week, she really doubted her decision regarding the break up with Eric. Had he really cheated on her or had the plan of Eric ex-girlfriend been all the time to get back her ex-boyfriend? It could surely have been a coincidence that she was there at that exact same restaurant on the same evening. She surely wanted to trust him in that matter, but unfortunately there was still a big voice of doubt in her head, that told her not to do it.

While Nell was contemplating her decision she made, Deeks made the final preparations in the boatshed for their big mission. Hetty was also involved into Callen's big plan at the very last minute, since she already had suspected something regarding their big plan, to get the two geeks back together. As Deeks was finally done with final preparations, he called Kensi and shortly said: "Everything is ready here, now it's your turn Kiki."

"Roger that Marty." Kensi shortly replied into her mobile phone, as she was standing outside the evidence room and then made her way her to OPS to do her part of the big plan.

"Hey Nell I need your help for a urgent related to our case, there are some files I need stored downstairs but since it would probably take me hours to find them, I really need your help on this ok?" Kensi asked and anxiously waited for the answer of red headed tech. Nell apparently wasn't happy at all about the distraction she was working on an assignment for Callen and then asked: "Can't this maybe wait a little; Callen also waits on a report on the rounds that were collected from the dead navy LT apartment and the laptop that he and Sam collected.

"No it can't, Hetty said that had top priority." Kensi replied trying to play the Hetty Card on Nell, even if she knew the little red haired tech wasn't afraid of their fearless leader one bit. Nell finally gave in, she let her take the lead and then quickly texted Callen: _* Phase One complete guys* _

As Callen received the short text from Kensi, smiled and was clearly happy that everything was going as they planned it. He knew since she had started working at NCIS that Nell was really smart and that didn't make it any easier to accomplish their goal and because of that they had thought of Plan B.

While Nell was already placed in the evidence room, Callen was now getting Eric into the same place and really hoped that their plan didn't fail miserably because one of them or both at the same time were smelling that something was fishy here. After the two were finally left alone in the room, the two were at first surprised of each other's presence, so they didn't say anything for a while but then Nell practically yelled at Eric: "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Eric yelled at the top of his lungs right back at her

"Why are you so stubborn? I tried to explain to you for almost a week now, that I only love you and that Vanessa practically forced me to kiss her by shoving down her tongue in my mouth!" Eric said in an angry tone before Nell could say anything.

"It didn't look like you've tried to push her off to me! You cheated on me! Do you really think that I am so dumb to believe that it was coincidence that she was there in the same restaurant on the same evening as us?"

_AN: Thanks to- Ele Kat for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Crazy Woman loves you for reviewing this story, thanks to- through your bright eyes for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

„Now you're being totally ridicilous, I haven't seen her in years and she surely didn't know it from me that we would have a date on this evening. I only love you Nell, but if you can't get that in your little stubborn head then I can't help it!" Eric said still in a very angry tone but hoped at the same time, that he wouldn't say anything to her that he would regret in the end. Nell shot in evil glare at him, that clearly said: _*if a glare could kill, you would be dead by now* _and then replied: "You're just trying to save yourself, first cheating on me and then pretending it never happened! You can't fool me Beale because I'm smarter then you and don't ever forget that!"

"Oh my god! Now you're playing the I'm Einstein and you're nothing card on me!" Eric exclaimed but deeply regretted the words once they were out of his mouth. Nell was now rendered speechless; sure she had been too hard on him and even wondered why she kept thinking that Eric had cheated on her. She herself had things she couldn't take back and the situation between her and Eric made her very sad and had definitely gone to one point where she couldn't take it anymore and decided just to storm out of the room and didn't care a bit about the concerned looks on the faces of her colleagues. When she was finally outside, she walked in a quick step to her car that was parked not far away from the building and broke down in tears for the first time this week once she had closed the driver's door behind her. Meanwhile Eric had still stood in the evidence room, couldn't really believe what just had happened, how could he say something that dumb to the woman he loved? He really didn't know and now desperately wished, that he had a time machine to travel back in time and take this all back but unfortunately the damage was done and fixing this would be very difficult or maybe even impossible to do in the worst case scenario. Later Eric tried to talk to Nell, to apologize how he had things let escalate between them in that harsh way but every try was blocked by her with the words: "We've got a case to solve not now Eric!" Meanwhile Hetty and Callen were having a sort of crisis meeting in her office: "This a disaster Mister Callen! Those two are still staring at each other like want to kill one another at any moment and if those can't get their act together for their own good then I'm afraid that I have to take drastic measures. Please understand this: This is also difficult for me to do, because those are practically the best of the best in what they do, that's why I hired them in the first place but right now it's only thing that I can do at this moment."

"You won't suspend them Hetty?" Callen asked with a shocked expression on his face, because he didn't like where the little Operations Manager went with this speech. Hetty smiled a little, to make the best of this horrible situation she was in as the Operations Manager and then continued: "No of course not Mister Callen, I will spontaneously award them a vacation at home and they're not allowed to come back till they've solved their differences with the each other. I'm going to tell them right now, two analysts as backups for Miss Jones and Mister Beale are already taken care off, to answer what would have probably been your next question." As their fearless little leader walked up the steps to OPS, Callen was once again amazed and shocked at the same, how she could read him like an open book sometimes.

Hetty finally arrived up at OPS and announced:" Mister Beale, Miss Jones since Your bickering clearly affects your work ethic you get a vacation until you finally get your act together again." The two techs facing Hetty were clearly stunned by this announcement and didn't know what to say about it for quite a while. Before the two had properly collected themselves again, Hetty left OPS and just as she had stepped outside she could hear some shouting inside the room, shook her head at that sound and thought to herself: _*I hope this vacation sets their heads right again.* _

_Three Days later_

Nell was sitting at home all alone, outside it was heavily raining and surely wouldn't stop anytime soon. Not only the weather was making her depressed at this moment: the situation with Eric had her mood really hit rock bottom for the last days. She continued to watch the rain fall down, a few more minutes until she finally decided to do something about the fight she had with Eric before it was too late. She got up from her chair at the window and made her way out of the apartment after she had locked the front door behind her with her keys. During the drive she thought about how she could fix things between her and Eric, because she unfortunately had been the one to act like a complete idiot and she didn't want to throw their relationship away just like that.

But would Eric be able to forgive her? Did she even deserve to get a second chance? This two and many other questions kept popping up in her head and were almost giving her a slight headache but she did her best to push them away for now because she needed to focus on driving.

_Twenty Minutes later_

Nell parked her red Mini Cooper into a free parking space near Eric's apartment. She looked outside, where it kept raining so much that you could even think the last day of men had dawned. Even she regretted not taking an umbrella with her, she ran through the rain as fast as she could anyway and didn't really matter right at this moment, that she would probably get soaking wet. Finally she reached his apartment, hastily hit the doorbell next to the front door, anxiously waited for Eric to open it and hopped at the same time that she wouldn't get sick.

Eric was clearly surprised as he saw Nell standing in front of him, right in the middle of the pouring rain and before he could say anything she said: "I'm sorry Eric, can we talk? Beside all things that I've said I still love you and I hope you can find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me." Nell then looked with pleading eyes at her ex-boyfriend, fortunately for her, he smiled at her with one of his famous smiles, she still loved so much and hadn't seen in a long time and then quickly ushered her inside.

He was kind enough to lend her one of his shirts, so she could dry her wet clothes in his bedroom. Only wearing one of Eric's shirts she walked into the living room, where he sat on one couch, smiled at her as he saw her in his shirt and said: "You look very good in that one Rockstar and I forgive you because the days without you and the ones were we were fighting with each other were just hell for me." Nell smiled brightly and replied: "I felt totally the same way and I never want us to argue ever again." "Agreed" Eric replied and then the two made out with each other and even decided to spontaneously take it one step further.

_AN: thanks to through your bright eyes for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review._


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

On the same evening the reunited geek couple ordered some pizza and both of them were really glad to not fight with each other anymore. Nell was really glad, that Eric had given their relationship a second chance even after all that nasty things she had said to him during the last stressful two weeks. While waiting for the pizza to arrive, the two sat in front of the TV tightly snuggled against each other and Nell couldn't help but smile most of the time when she rested her head on Eric's strong shoulder.

"What you're smiling Rockstar?" Eric asked, swept a little hair out of her face and thought to himself: *_I Love it when she smiles, it reminds me of the sun rise at the morning.* _

"I'm just happy that we were able to get things to work between us again, because I probably wouldn't have forgiven myself if I lost you forever, just because of some stupid personality flaw I have." Eric kissed her on her forehead and then replied:" I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little bored so let's watch a DVD till the pizza finally arrives. What do you say?"

With a big smirk on her face she replied: "Good Idea but I choose the movie. Do we have deal Beale?"

"Of course we have Rockstar, I'm totally okay with that." Nell got up from the couch, went through the enormous DVD collection of her partner he had stored in a little sideboard on wheels. The most of them clearly didn't fit her taste but she was sure she would find something interesting for her and Eric to watch tonight. She finally found a nice DVD: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", read the story at the back of it and then finally said: "I want to watch this one." Then she put it finally into the DVD Player and clicked the button when the menu came on, she snuggled herself against Eric again and he softly stroke through her hair. A few minutes later the pizza finally arrived, both of them looked at each other and Eric finally said: "Don't worry, I'll get it and I'll be right back Rockstar." Nell put the movie on pause and hoped that he would be back fast. With two plates in one hand, Eric finally returned to the living room, handed Nell her pizza carton and said: "Here you go Rockstar, your favorite pizza for you- Salami." She put the pizza on her plate as Eric did and then the two continued to watch the movie. Suddenly shots rang through the room, Nell and Eric ducked under the table and both of them stayed shock glued to the ground because they were clearly surprised by what has happened. Suddenly the apartment door was kicked open, masked gunmen stormed into the room, one of them threw a stun grenade and before Nell and Eric could do anything against it they fell into a deep slumber. Two gunmen grabbed the techs, carried them quickly out of the room and one of them said to the man who apparently was their leader: "Mission accomplished, everything went according to plan Oddis."

Oddis Meyer smiled, even if nobody could see that under the gas mask he and the rest of the team were wearing and then he quickly gave the command to get out of the apartment as fast as possible. They surely needed to get out of here as fast as they had entered the apartment of Eric Beale, their primary target, the other analyst Nell Jones was just an insurance that Beale wouldn't try to do anything stupid.

Three years ago, under false evidence he was released from the Marine Corps and to now prove his innocence he needed the PC Skills of Eric Beale. Surely he hated to have to result to these methods but the circumstances had forced him to do that. Beale needed to find an encrypted file on the servers of the headquarters of the Marine Corps Station here in LA, which disclosed the real person behind this: his commanding officer Peter Walsh, who had made this file disappear to assure that he stayed at his position of power.

Nell and Eric were finally packed into the black van and they drove away before anybody of the Beal's neighbors discovered what was going on here. The two techs eyes had been totally covered with blindfolds, so that they didn't know where there were going because Oddis surely didn't want them to be found by anyone before Beale had accomplished his assignment for him. A little the two were practically dragged into a cold and dark room, their hands cuffed to their backs and eyes still covered by the blindfolds. After the two were tied to the chairs, the guard said in a menacing voice:" Just do what my boss asks you to do and you two will be out here in no time." Before Nell or Eric could say anything, the gunmen walked out of the door, closed the heavy iron door behind him and as the two were finally alone in the room Eric asked: "You're okay Rockstar?" Still trying to collect herself after now being kidnapped for the second time Nell answered in a uneasy voice: "I guess so, because of the blindfold I can't see if anything is hurt but I guess it's good news that I feel no pain."

Eric then spent the next hour or so to think of something that those guys wanted of him, because maybe the boss holds a grudge against NCIS for what reason what so ever. "Are you okay Eric?" Nell then asked, because he looked a little pale in the face.

"It will be when we get out of here alive." Eric said now with a grim expression on his face. As best as it was possible the two held onto each other's hands and tried to motivate themselves to get through this.

_AN: I hope you like this chapter, please read & review. The next chapter will probably be the last one_


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

It didn't take long for the geeks colleagues to find out, that Nell and Eric went missing at the same time. "Something is definitely wrong with that G, Nell and Eric aren't answering their cells and phones at home and those aren't that kind of persons who don't show up at work without notifying anyone." Sam said to his partner, the rest of the field agents and their fearless little leader while their all were sitting in her "office". With the help from one of the replacement techs at OPS, they later tracked down both mobile phones: "Deeks, Kensi you go to Eric's apartment and me and Sam take Nell's apartment." Callen then ordered and once this was said, the two teams went separate ways to their individual cars and made their way to their assignments.

Meanwhile Eric and Nell where still holding on to each other's very tight and tried their very best to get through this in a joined effort. Eric kept on stroking Nell's soft hand and soothingly said: "We will get out of here alive, I promise Rockstar, the team will find us very soon." Because she was immobilized in such a big way because of the shackles that bound her and Eric to the chair, she could only see him in his loving eyes for quite some time and tried her best to assure him by that, that she welcomed his little motivational speech very much. Their moment was soon interrupted as the gunman, that had brought them here in the first place burst into the room unannounced, freed Eric from his shackles but before Nell could even start to think about any escape plans, she saw a second guard standing outside, keeping an close eye on her in case she decided to do something foolish. "What do want from me? Where are you taking me?" Eric shouted at one of his captors and tried his best to get out of the grip from one of the man but the gunman kept on holding on to him tight. Nell followed this whole scene with tears in her eyes and hoped that Eric would really survive this and what that mysterious boss wanted of him. The gunman hit hard with one hand and said in a threating voice: "Don't make me do it the hard way!"

Without any more resistance he was dragged out of the room with a blindfold again covering his eyes and deep down he hopped, that his team would find him soon. Tears started to roll down Nell's cheeks, even if she had tried the whole time to be as tough as possible but that whole thing had definitely hit a weak spot of her. Eric was practically pushed into a barely lit room, where a dark figure was standing at the other end of it, apparently waiting for his arrival the whole time. The Gunmen pushed him a little bit more forward, then forced him down on his knees, as Eric failed to comply and repeated his question from a few minutes ago. "Go now." The dark figure that stood still out near the only window of the dark room and after the gunmen had shortly nodded at his boss, the two were finally the only two persons in the room. Now the man stepped closer to the still blindfolded and bound Eric, took of the blindfold and said: "I'm sorry Mister Beale that I had to result to such harsh methods in this case, but you probably wouldn't have helped me if I had nicely asked for it. Three years ago, I was falsely put into a prison because of a investigation conducted by the NCIS, while the real person behind the whole thing, made the only evidence that could incriminate him in this whole thing making disappear! He put the file on an encrypted hard drive, thankfully after I had served my time behind bars as a victim of injustice from my own country, I retrieved the hard drive from him. But the thing is: All of the men I hired couldn't get through all the layers of the encryption, so I still don't have the one and only prove of my innocence! That's where you come in Mister Beale, I did a little research on you and since you're an encryption specialist, you will help to rehabilitate me!" Eric was now put in a tough spot by the man in front of him, because he didn't know if he could trust this guy: was that really the only thing he wanted and then the two would be free to go? or would they get killed anyway?

Of course his captor saw, that he was struggling with the decision so he said: "if you choose to decline my "request" Mister Beale, I'm afraid that I have to hurt your girlfriend, your colleague, sister or whatever she is!"

_AN: Thanks to- miss tarletone for adding this story to her Favorite Stories Alert, reviewing this story, thanks to- amorevolefe13 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories. I Hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Menacingly the man in Front of him pointed with a gun at him, to speed things a little bit up because he still had no answer from Eric. Then Eric finally said: "Ok fine I'll do it, but only under one condition: Leave her out of this, don't harm her because that is a thing between you and me."

"Ok fine with me Mister Beale, but now let's go to work, I've already prepared a workstation for you right over there." Then he freed Eric from the blindfold and the handcuffs, got him up to his feet and watched every Move of the NCIS Techie as he finally sat down behind the Computer. Meanwhile Nell still bound to the metallic grey chair in the dark room that both of them were held the entire time was frantically thinking about a way to get out of this mess. But unfortunately, the fact that her arms and hands were tightly bound behind her back restricted her movement very much and it frustrated her very much.

Deep down she hoped that Eric was still okay and was not being tortured right now, because he didn't want to do the biding of that mysterious person named "The Boss". She wondered when their colleagues would find them or more importantly had any clue where to look for them and it frightened her a little that their team maybe wouldn't be able to locate them because they were in the middle of nowhere and the only way to track them, their mobile phones were at their respective apartments. As quickly as that doubt came into her thoughts she banned it from there, because if they wanted to survive this they both needed to be strong and needed to believe that their colleagues and friends would soon come to rescue them. Meanwhile Kensi and Deeks had reached Eric's apartment, discussing any theories that came to their minds about the sudden disappearance of Nell and Eric: "Maybe someone we brought behind bars in the past now wants to get back at us by kidnapping them." Kensi said the first thought that came to her mind out loud while looking at Deeks, as they climbed the stairs to the front door of Eric's little apartment. Finally the two reached the door, Kensi looked around in all directions then she nodded at Deeks, he started to pick the lock of the front door and he then said: "Great Idea Kens, we should probably check out some old cases when we are back." It took a few more minutes but then Deeks had finally opened the door, Kensi quickly followed him inside and after she had closed the door she said: "Ok, you take this part of the apartment and I the other half." Deeks just nodded and then the two went their separate ways, really hoping that they would find any clue to the current whereabouts of Eric and Nell.

_Nell's apartment_

Like Deeks and Kensi, Sam and Callen had also split up in the apartment looking for any clues to what happened to the two NCIS techies. Callen was very sure of one thing: time was a very critical factor in this case, because the more time it took them to find their two missing colleague, the smaller the chances were to find them alive. But he didn't want to think about that for the moment, because he and his team were the best in their job and everybody would do anything in their power to find those two.

While finishing his search for any evidence in the bedroom of the apartment one important question kept on popping up in his thoughts: *_Why did they take Nell and Eric and not anybody else from the team?* _Right now there was only one explanation for that on his mind: They needed them for something that had to do with working on a computer. That could be hacking or encrypting something but that were only speculations right now and he wasn't really a person that liked to speculate. As Callen wanted to move on to the next room, his mobile phone rang, he looked at the Caller ID, picked it up and hoped that Kensi had good news for him: "Kensi, please tell me that you and Deeks have found something."

"Yes, we have Deeks found some tire tracks just outside Eric's apartment and it looks like the back door to the garden has been tempered with but no fingerprints unfortunately. Whoever broke the door open must have worn gloves but we are following the tire tracks now."

"Thanks Kensi, keep me posted." Callen said, hung up joined Sam in the living room of Nell's apartment and said: "Kensi and Deeks have found the first hot lead, there are following the tire tracks of the kidnapper's car right now."

"Let's hope that we find them before it's too late." Sam answered; Callen just nodded at his partner in response and also hoped that the two were still okay when they would finally find them.

Back at the kidnapper's hideout in the middle of nowhere, Eric tried his best to stall without the man behind him noticing, even if he knew that that was really a risky thing he did, that could end in a bad way for Nell but he was confident that it was worth the risk. Unfortunately for Kensi and Deeks the tire tracks of the kidnapper's car ended at a trail near a forest, so the two parked the car near the trail walked into the forest and tried their best to find their trace again, so they would know in which direction they had to go.

_AN: Thanks to- swimgeek 2007 for adding this story to his/her Story Alert subscription, thanks to- Miss tarletone for reviewing this story. Please read and review_


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Eric didn't know exactly how long he could keep up this game before his captor found out, that he was being fooled but deep down he knew that he had nothing to lose. He and Nell would be probably killed anyway by their captors, because they probably didn't want to risk to be identified by them even if all their faces were covered with ski masks. But the men behind their kidnapping were pros, no amateurs, so they knew that he and Nell could find some way to identify one of them and was probably a risk they really didn't want to take.

Meanwhile Nell, blindfolded and hand cuffed to the chair nearby the room where Eric was with the boss of the kidnappers frantically thought of a way how to get out of this predicament and thought:*_It's a shame I can't move my legs, I would really like to put the field agent training to a test and what better place and time there is then right here and right now?* _

Deeks and Kensi continued to walk on a muddy wooden path, the sun shining through the trees a couple of times and both of them asked themselves how much more they had to walk to get to their final destination. Fighting with a very bad reception because of all the trees between them, Kensi brought Callen up to speed and after she had finished Callen hung up, called OPS and asked one of the temporary replacements for Nell and Eric: "Lisa, can you track Kensi's phone and send me the coordinates? Thanks."

"Right Away Callen." Lisa answered shortly right before Callen hung up. "Do you think that they are still alive Kensi?" Deeks suddenly asked his partner, while continuing to follow the tire tracks of the car through the forest and now saw a little sad look on Kensi's face. For some time Kensi didn't really know what to say, on one side she was truly convinced that Nell and Eric were still alive, she didn't know why she just knew it but on other side she knew that the chance to find them alive weren't getting larger as more elapsed. She quickly banned those negative thoughts out of her mind and then finally answered: "Nell and Eric are definitely alive, those two will fight to stay alive and of course we will rescue them in time." Back at Nell's apartment, Callen and Sam were on their way back to the car and to get to the coordinates that Callen had received on his phone. Eric still was busy getting through the several layers of encryption of the hard drive; of course he really was busy with developing an escape plan and hoped that it would succeed in the end, when he would finally set it into motion. Behind him, the boss of the kidnapper's still observed every move of him and was getting more impatient as he had probably realized that Eric was trying to play him. "What's taking so long Mister Beale? If you're really so stupid to try to play me, then that's my last warning for you: Don't try to mess with me or else she will pay dearly for your foolishness! Do you understand that Mister Beale?"

"You're bluffing." Eric shot back with a fierce look on his face but knew deep down that he was risking a lot right at this moment. A big grin appeared on the face of his captor, even if Eric couldn't see that because of the ski mask covering his face and then he finally said: "You really think that Mister Beale? Then you are so wrong and very naïve I have to say." He then grabbed a remote, took a radio from a nearby table, held down the button for talk and then said: "Show Mister Beale, what happens when somebody tries to play me."

The gunmen did as he was told right away, moved nearer to Nell and as he pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it directly to her neck, Eric now had a scared looked in his face as he followed all what was happening in the room where Nell was held through the black flat screen at the left wall of the room. He really didn't know right now, how much longer he could go through with this without risking the life of his girlfriend in a very serious way. _*Come on Eric, think and think fast* _ Eric prompted himself mentally for a way out of this big dilemma he was in right now and he really wished that the rest of the team was here right now to help him. But unfortunately they weren't here right now, he needed to fix this on his own but how could he do that? He needed to find a way out of this and fast. Meanwhile Nell really feared for her life, her whole body was shaking and she really hoped that she survived all of this. As Eric was still not giving him the answer he wanted to hear, he gave some more commands to the gunmen and shortly after that Eric could watch on the screen how the man pulled Nell up from the chair, took away the ties that had bound her legs to it and then beat her up with slaps to her face and strikes to her abdomen. Eric couldn't watch this for long so he finally relented and said: "Stop! I will crack the encryption for you, leave her alone I beg you!"

With a smile on his face, the boss told the gunmen to stand down but before he could put Nell back on the chair, she hit him directly into the nuts. Stunned by the sudden agony, he went down on the ground, even Eric was surprised by the scene that he witnessed on the big screen on the left to him. The bosses eyes where still glued to the screen, as he frantically gave out the order to the men to capture Nell at any costs. Eric then grabbed the notebook; hit his captor directly on the head with it so that he went to the ground. But he quickly recovered from the sudden attack and then a very even battle began between the two men, as Nell meanwhile did her best to find her boyfriend in this big cave like hideout.

_Thanks to- Miss Tarletone for reviewing this chapter. Please read and review_


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The two continued men to fight, both had a couple of bruises on their faces but no one of them wanted to show a sign of weakness by giving up. Meanwhile the men of the boss frantically searched the large area of the cave for Nell, which was hiding right now in a storage room, hoping that she wouldn't be found in there and was working on a plan how to locate Eric. *_There must be some kind of command center somewhere, I just need a way to find it and then I can finally come to Eric's rescue*. _

The rest of the team had finally arrived at the only entrance of the big cave, on Callen's command the rest moved into it with drawn guns ready to shoot right at the moment when someone would attack them. Back inside, Eric was finally able to deliver the fatal to his opponent, as fast as he could he quickly left the room and thought:* _Where is Nell? I really hope she's okay, I've got to find her and that fast!* _He now stood in a long hallway, looking in both directions and didn't really which of the two paths he should choose. Meanwhile Callen, Kensi, Deeks and Sam fought with the some gunmen far away from Nell and Eric, doing their very best to get through the blockade of their opponents but quickly realized that the gunmen had made sure so far, that they couldn't get away from their current position for now. But certainly Callen didn't intent to keep it that way, he knew that they needed to move fast if they wanted to save the lives of their two colleagues and friends: _*How can we get to the other side of the cave? and are Nell and Eric still alive and well?* _ Callen thought, while putting another full magazine into the pistol, fired some more precise shots at his opponents and even was able to shoot two of them in the process. He then looked at Deeks and Kensi and said: "You two move down that isle, me and Sam will give you cover and maybe then we can move forward." And pointed down one isle on the right next to them, while Sam and Callen provided cover fire Kensi and Deeks quickly went down that isle, while Sam and his partner could eliminate each two more gunmen.

Nell finally got out of the storage room, as she could be totally sure that no one of their captors was in sight. What she didn't know was, that Oddis Meyer, one of that had kidnapped her and Eric from his apartment was watching every move of her through a monitor that showed the pictures of a hidden surveillance camera that was located in the area where Nell was right now.

"Now we've got her exactly where we want her." Then he brightly grinned at the monitor and continued to watch Nell move through the seemingly endless corridors of the cave, already knowing that she and her friend wouldn't leave this cave in one piece because he would make sure of this, even if it was the last thing he would do.

The rest of the team had captured one of the gunmen and Callen and Sam were interrogating him now: "Where are our two colleagues?" The man just stared at Callen and Sam, clearly didn't want to divulge any useful information to them he might had. As Nell almost had reached the end of a very long isle, a dark figure suddenly positioned herself directly in her way, as someone tried to grab her from behind Nell quickly hit her opponent with two precise fist strikes and was a little surprised of her own strength for a short moment. With the moment of the surprise gone, her two opponents were able deliver some hits at her, Nell got stricken down to the ground a couple of times but got back up again and again and hit her opponents with everything she got.

_AN: Thanks to- miss tarletone for reviewing this story. Please read & review_


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Nell almost wanted to give up, as Eric finally came to her rescue and quickly helped her up from the ground before their opponents could get to them again. Eric now pulled the weapon out, he had stolen from the mysterious "Boss", made the weapon ready to fire and as he and Nell had taken cover behind a big container he fired some shots at them. Only one shot hit its target, hitting one man directly in his leg and making him come up with a grimace in his face because of his big pain in his one leg. Eric wasn't really happy of his bad shooting skills but considering how much long ago it was he had held a weapon and shoot with it, it was better than nothing.

Their opponents now also took on the other side of the cave, returned fire and the two techies really hoped that their team would soon arrive here to them out of this mess. Nell was really happy to see, that Eric was alive and well but on the other hand she thought to herself: * _How do we get out of here?* No_ matter how, she really hoped to get out of this hell together with Eric as soon possible because like Eric she was no field agent, even if she had received the training for field duty and considering how her latest assignment went, she really didn't want to go out into the field again anytime soon. For the next few minutes, Eric continued to fire at their enemies at the other end of the room and in the back of his mind, there surely popped up the question: _*How much longer can we hold this position with only two more full magazines as a reserve?* _

Eric did his very best to put this question aside for now, because it would only distract him in the end and that could have either terrible consequences only for him, that meant he probably getting shot and wounded pretty bad or both of them getting brought back to their holding cell. But on the other side, he really didn't like their chances against opponents that were better equipped as him and obviously had better shooting skills. _*I have to continue fighting, for myself and the woman that I love.* Plenty_ more salves out of the AK-47's of their opponents hit the container, that Nell and Eric used as a protection and they wondered when the team would arrive. One time he got out of his corner to shoot some shots at the attackers, he couldn't get back to his cover in time; he got directly hit into his leg and cried out in pain for a short moment. Nell now looked very concerned at her partner, fearing for his well- being: "You're hurt."

Eric could clearly see the concern in her eyes as he turned to face her, had to fight the urge very to not get lost in this very moment in her wonderful looking hazel eyes. After he had finally collected himself again he answered: "I'm fine Rockstar and let me promise this to you, right here and right now: We will get out of here alive and then I'll take you out to dinner, do we have deal?" Tears threatened to well up in her eyes because she admired Eric's courage and the ability he has to always cheer her up in the right time so much. Eric wiped away some small tears that ran down one of her cheeks with his right hand and said: "I love so much Rockstar and I'll always do."

"Yes we have a deal and I'll always love you too, no matter what happens between us because I just can't be without you." Nell finally said as she had barely collected herself again and tried her best to muster up all her courage she had left inside of her. Eric now fired a few more shots from the pistol, till the magazine was empty and he needed to put in a new one and definitely knew that he couldn't hold his position forever.

"Ok we've not got much more magazines left, let's hope Callen and the rest of the team will get us out of here soon." Eric said and continued to fire away at the opponents that tried to put them back in their holding cell. After all the magazines were finally empty, Eric now had a concerned look on his face because now they really had a big problem: "If you have any idea what we could do now, please let me know." Their kidnappers probably had realized that Eric was out of ammo by now, started to move forward and wanted to recapture the two without much resistance, Eric and Nell meanwhile braced themselves for the battle that was about to come for their very survival. Now things went really fast, before he could react in anyway one of the men knocked him to ground by hitting him with his pistol directly on the head.

Nell quickly positioned herself between the man and Eric screaming: "No! Don't touch him, take me instead. "The man punched Nell hard into her ribs, what made her cry out in pain for a moment. She glanced at Eric for a moment, tears shortly welling up in her eyes and now on her knees she dragged herself to where his body lay unconscious and whispered into his ear: "Eric please wake up, I don't want to lose you."

_AN: Thanks to- idenadege for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- irish gecko 14 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- kitad for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- miss tarletone for reviewing this story. _

_I hope you like this chapter and that my grammar gets better in the next chapters of the story, but in the end I'm happy about all the reviews and please feel free to continue to write some constructive critic in your reviews because that's really important to me to improve the quality of the story. _


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Suddenly Nell felt a gun at her head, she tried her best to get up again but her ribs hurt too much. She was ready to give up, prepare for the worst to come but then she hurt familiar voices scream: "Federal Agents lay down your weapons!" The men opened fire on the NCIS Agents, they quickly took cover behind one cave wall as their opponents did and meanwhile Nell whispered into Eric's ear: "The team is finally here, hang in there Eric please." She tried her very best to ignore the wave of pain, by thinking about the wonderful dinner with the man she loved so much once they finally got out of here.

Finally after all gunmen were taken out, Callen was the first who reached Nell and Eric, closely followed by the rest of the team. He and the rest clearly looked very concerned for the well-being of their two Techies, Deeks quickly felt for a pulse on Eric and said: "He's still breathing but I suggest we get him out of here fast." Kensi meanwhile was taking care of Nell, asking her: "How are you feeling Nell? Can you get up on your own?" Nell's eyes slowly fluttered open and with all the strength left inside of her she finally answered: "Like…a…punchingbag….my ribs…hurt" Kensi and Callen slowly helped Nell up from the ground and had to help her walk because she could barely hold herself up her own two legs. Sam and Deeks meanwhile carried the still unconscious Eric, of course Callen was already thinking of the fastest to get out of here because the time was definitely a big enemy in this case. On the way back, Callen took care of ordering a Medevac for Eric and Nell because the injuries of the two definitely needed to be treated in the next hospital and because Eric hadn't woken up since the rest of the team had arrived to rescue him and Nell, Callen and the rest of the agents were definitely the most concerned about his medical condition.

_*Please Eric wake up, don't leave me* _Nell thought as she tried her best to hold herself in in an upright position even if she had a very hard time in doing so because of all the pain she felt in her ribs. But no matter how much pain she had to endure she would continue to fight it, for herself and Eric, she fought back some tears that threatened to escape from her eyes as she shortly looked at the still unconscious figure of the man she loved and didn't know if he would life another day. Nell couldn't imagine a life without him, after she had been with him through so much, so much memories she had with him since they had started working together at OPS and she couldn't imagine working alongside a better colleague than him. Outside the cave, the two were later then put into the Medevac Chopper and as Nell lay there on the stretcher right next to Eric, she really hoped that the help didn't arrive too late for him.

She closed her eyes, trying to relax and thought of the good times she had spent together with him. Down on the ground, Nell and Eric's team sat in their cars again still trying to cope with events that happened just a few minutes ago and they all were clearly very concerned for the safety of their two friends. One of the doctors had given them the address of the hospital where they would take Nell and Eric, on the way to the hospital Callen pulled out his cellphone out of his pocket to notify Hetty of the current situation, their mighty little leader said after Callen's short report: "Thanks for the update Mister Callen, I will meet you and the rest of the team at the hospital."

"Ok bye Hetty." Callen answered and ended the call

The chopper finally dropped down on the landing pad of the nearest Hospital, the doctors rushed both of the stretchers inside the building because time was in Eric's case really their big enemy. "We've got two patients, one male and female: Mister Beale needs to be brought into a free operation room right now because he's losing a lot of blood from a head wound. Miss Jones had more "luck" than her colleague, only a few cracked ribs and definitely needs some painkillers. While Eric got wheeled into the ER, the stretcher where Nell was on got brought one floor up into a normal room, where she got some painkillers because of the big amount of pain she suffered right now due to the cracked ribs. A very concerned Kensi was the first one to arrive at the reception desk of the hospital and asked the receptionist at once: "Do you know anything about the condition of Nell Jones and Eric Beale?"

"Mister Beale is in surgery right now, so I can't say anything solid on his medical condition. Miss Jones is at room 145 on the first floor and stable." The young receptionist with the name Laura replied after she had looked into the computer in front of her.

"Thank you Laura." Kensi then said and returned to the others with the news of Eric's and Nell's condition. "I hope he gets through surgery without any problems." Deeks said as the first one to react to the uncertainty of Eric's health, he then asked the rest of team: "Anyone wants some coffee?" All of them ordered one, realizing that tonight would probably be a very long night.

Later they still sat in front of the reception desk, had been waiting for a doctor to arrive for quite some time now they heard a male voice clearing his throat next to them and saying: "Are you the colleagues of Miss Jones and Mister Beale?" Callen was the first one to get up from his seat and answered: "Yes we are how is he?"

"Fortunately Miss Beale got through surgery without any problems, you can see him now but only two at a time because he still needs a lot of rest." Doctor Andrews replied and then Callen turned around to face the rest of his team and said: "Kensi and Deeks you can go in first to Eric, me and Sam will wait here for the arrival of Hetty." After Deeks and Kensi had left, Callen and Sam talked about the medical condition of Nell, till Hetty arrived.

_AN: Eric didn't give the weapon to Nell, because in his mind he felt that it was his duty to protect the woman he loves. Thanks to- kekej for reviewing this story and adding it to his/her favorite stories list, Thanks to- miss tarletone for reviewing this story. _

_Please read and review_


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Kensi and Deeks still sat at Nell's bedside, which was quite shaken up because of all the things that had happened to her in the past hours. Knowing that Eric's fate was still uncertain at this time made her very sad at this very moment, Kensi saw the very sad look on Nell's face and said: "Eric is a fighter; we have to continue to believe in the fact, that he indeed will make it in one piece through surgery." Even if she tried her very best not to cry in front of Deeks and Kensi, one little tear made its way down her right cheek, she hopped so much that Kensi was right because she didn't want to lose Eric. He meant everything to her, since they had become more than colleagues she couldn't imagine a life without him anymore. She wiped away the tear with her right hand and after she had finally collected herself again she said: "You're right Kensi, thanks for the support; I think I really needed that right now."

"No problem Nell, do you anything right now?" Kensi then asked Nell, to get to her mind off that depressing topic for the moment.

"I will definitely need some fresh clothes from my apartment since I will be staying here probably for at least a week." She answered without thinking about that question for very long, even if wished that she could see Eric now, even if probably still wasn't awake by now but she hated it to have to lay here in this bad and to do nothing. "Good I will get you that Nell and bring you your clothes tomorrow when I come again with Deeks." Later a doctor finally came out of the operation room to the waiting area, where Hetty, Callen and Sam were still sitting and said: "Are you the colleagues of Mister Beale?"

"Yes we are Doctor, what's his condition right now?" Hetty was this time the first one to speak and really hoped that the doctor had good news for them. "Then I have good news for you: Mister Beale is now stable but still unconscious and is brought to a room right at this moment as we speak." Doctor Carter announced to Hetty, Sam and Callen and then Hetty once again spoke: "When can we see Mister Beale."

"I'm afraid that's not possible till tomorrow, because he has lost a lot of blood and really needs to rest right now because of that." Doctor Carter promptly answered to short operations manager of the NCIS OSP and said before he left again: "if you have any questions, just tell one of the nurses to contact me on my pager and my name is Doctor Carter."

"Thank you Doctor." Hetty shortly replied

Meanwhile it was getting dark outside and as Callen looked at the clock on the wall in the waiting area, he began to yawn shortly and realized how much time they had already spent in the hospital today. He surely was very happy, to know that Eric had made it through surgery without any complications and hoped that both of his colleagues would be out of the hospital again very soon. A little later a nurse finally came into the room and said: "I'm sorry but you have to leave now, the visiting hours are over now." Kensi and Deeks got up from their chairs, now also very tired said goodbye to Nell and then went back into the elevator to get one floor down back to waiting area to the rest of the team. In their separate cars, they finally drove back home but in their thoughts they all were still back at the hospital for the rest of the evening.

Back at the hospital Nell, still lay wide awake in her hospital bed even if she was getting very tired right now and her body really wanted to sleep but in her mind she still kept thinking about Eric.

_Flashback_

_Nell was sitting in her car driving through the streets with no proper destination; she just wanted to get away as far as possible. The man she thought loved her had cheated in her with another woman and she didn't quite understand how she was dumb to not realize that she got played the entire time. After driving through the streets for little longer, she finally made her way back home and just wanted to crawl into bed right now for the rest of the day. With tears in her eyes she later grabbed her phone and dialed Eric's phone number, while she waiting for him to pick up the first tears made her way down her cheeks and she hoped that he would pick up the receiver because she really needed to talk to somebody right now. When he finally picked up the phone, she didn't try to hold back the tears anymore and couldn't really get out one single word out of her mouth. _

_But then she finally choked out in between heavy sobs: "He…cheated on me…Jack…on me!" She then asked him if he could come to her apartment tonight to talk, knowing that his presence would help her a lot because he had been the only guy, she knew she could always trust with delicate matters like that one. _

_Nell finally hung up the phone, dried the last tears in her face with one hand and then went to the bathroom to clean herself up a little. But once she lay on the bed, just looking at the white wall on the left side of the bedroom the tears came back again, making her way down her cheeks and she continued to cry for quite a while till she heard someone knocking at the door a while later and got up from the bed. _

_Doing her very best to keep her emotions in check for a while, she then opened the door and let Eric into her apartment. He clearly had a very concerned look on his face, as it was still visible on her face that she cried a lot just recently. They both went into the bedroom, where Nell wanted to try first to tell him all what had happened but once she tried to speak she broke out in tears again, now crying into Eric's shirt with his arms wrapped around her body. When her sobs finally died down, she looked deeply into Eric's eyes for a while and then she closed the distance between them and started to softly kiss him._

_He was at first a little surprised but then he started to kiss her back._

_End Flashback_

That particular memory put a smile on her face right now, as she looked out of the window into the darkness of the night but still couldn't go to sleep right now. On the bed she then found the button, to call a nurse into the room because she really needed to know right now how Eric's condition was at this moment. It didn't take very long for a nurse to arrive, who then asked once she came into Nell's room: "Miss Jones how I can help you? "

"Can you find out for me what the condition of Eric Beale is?" Nell asked

"Of course I can, I'll be right back." The nurse answered and then left the room

The nurse finally returned to Nell and said: "Mister Beale is stable but unconscious and the doctors are confident that he will be soon a hundred percent again."

Nell thanked the nurse and after she was finally alone again in the room, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

_AN: Thanks to- miss tarletone for reviewing this story. Please read & review_


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The week went by faster, as Nell had imagined and the time she had to go rehab the entire week. Eric's condition was improving day by day and during one of her rehab sessions Doctor Parker came into the room and said: „I have good news for you Miss Jones, Mister Beale's condition is really looking so far we expect him to wake up today." Nell stopped for a moment with what she doing, looked at the doctor with now a big smile on her face and even if walking still hurt a lot because of the countless broken ribs in her body, she slowly limbed to the doctor, hugged him tight and said: „Thanks for that information Doctor Parker, that's really great to hear."

„Take it easy Miss Jones, your body is still very vurneable at this stage of rehab, so it needs every time in the world to recover." Doctor Parker said and smiled back at her, happy to see his patient in that of good emotional state even if her physical condition was far away from being hundred percent again but she had made good progress in her very first week of rehab. In the afternoon Nell could finally see Eric for the first time ever, since they both were admitted to hospital after the team had freed them from their kidnappers. They had been only together for a few weeks but already had gone through so much in that little time and as she now sat at his bedside, she softly took his right hand and softly stroked it for a while.

Slowly his eyes flickered open and even if he was feeling totally groggy right at this moment a little smile appeared on his face, as he saw that the woman he loved so much was sitting at his bedside. „Hey...I missed you soo much, how are you feeling right now?" Nell then finally asked him and she was really happy right now, to see him awake again and hoped that they would get soon out of the hospital, so that she and Eric could on their dinner they had planned before they got kidnapped. Eric adjusted his pillow a little to have a better look at his visitor, smiled weakly at her and said: „Totally groggy right now but seeing you alive and well makes this all better." During the period, that their freedom had been taken away he had really thought more than once that they wouldn't get out alive. „As as soon as we are out of here, we will have the dinner I still owe you." He said and softly squezzed her hand weakly, because of the strong morphine dosis he didn't feel much at this moment and he really would work hard in the coming week to get back to hundred percent again.

She smiled weakly at him and said: „Don't talk too much, the doctor said that you do need to take it easy at first because you got heard pretty bad." They continued to talk for quite a while, till Eric finally got tired and Nell left the room to get back to her's with the help of the crutches. Later that day, the rest of the team again came to the hospital to visit, Nell filled them in on Eric's condition and all of them were happy to hear that the other part of the famous techie duo was alive and well. While Kensi and Deeks stayed with Nell in her room, Sam and Callen went to visit Eric to see how the other half of the NCIS geek dreamteam did. „How are you feeling little pixie?" Deeks asked, while Nell adjusted her pillow a little because it got a little uncomfortable for her.

„A little bit like a punching bag but I'm feeling better day by day." She said answered with a weak smile on her face and was happy to have her team by her side and she really didn't know what she would do without them.

„Does the doctor have any estimation, when you will be out of the hospital again?" Kensi asked because she and the rest of the team really missed Eric and Nell at work. In the end they all were like a big family and Hetty being sort of the mother oft hem, because they were bickering like children were doing it.

„The doctor couldn't exactly say how long the recovery process takes, it deepends a lot on the next examinations and test they do." Nell answered and sighed a little, because she really didn't like to lay in bed all the time and do nothing: she missed work so much and some people would probably that she was a hopeless workaholic.

_1 week later_

Eric and Nell got finally released out of the hospital in the afternoon, even if they were free to go now the doctors both told them to take it easy at first and take one more week off from work. Kensi vorlurtanly picked them both up with her car to take them home. The rode to Eric's apartment, where Nell had pratically moved in went by in a comfortable silence because they both were just happy to be able to spent some time together.

Before Kensi left, she said: „If need anything just call, because remember what the doctors said: Take it easy!"

„Thanks Kensi but I think we're good right now." Eric answered, Kensi then drove away after she said goodbye to the geek dream team and so the two were finally alone and made their way into Eric's apartment.

Arriving in the living room, Eric could easily tell that Nell was definitely very worried for her safety in here, because knowing her for that long time meant that he could easily read of her face one thing: fear. She wrapped her arms tightly around Eric, started to shiver and Eric said: „Don't worry Rockstar, I'm here with you and I'll make sure, that nothing ever happens to you again."

He lead slowly to the couch in the middle of the room, he turned on the TV and he could feel her tension ease away a little bit now.

_AN: Thanks to- miss tarletone for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review. The next chapter is probably going to be the last one, since I almost used every idea for the story I wanted._


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

On the End of the first week back from the hospital the two had their dinner, they promised each other to have after having survived this painful abduction. On one side she clearly was glad to be out of the hospital but on the other side, being at the place where all the drama for her and Eric had begun just week ago, she was clearly still terrified and struggled with nightmares. Thankfully Eric was by her side the whole time to calm her down, the warmth of his body made the pain ease away very quickly again and she didn't knew what she would without him in this difficult phase of the coping process with the abduction. Because of the doctor's orders to rest at least for another week, Eric decided to order pizza for both of them and to get by the waiting time a little bit the two watched some TV on the couch in the living room. Nell cuddled very close to him the entire time, whishing the entire time she could be back at work already so there she wouldn't haunted by her bad dreams anymore.

Eric could see the pain in her eyes the entire time, he had witnessed every night this week how shook up she was by the bad dreams. Eric actually wasn't sure what do in this situation, should he talk with Nell about this whole situation and recommend her to see a psychologist because of her nightmares? or should he just be there for her the whole time and try to solve this problem together? This whole was very difficult for him to solve, because he certainly didn't want to get on her bad side as this whole "thing" they had was something that meant a lot to him and certainly didn't want it destroyed by the fact that Nell was taking some of his advice the wrong way. They continued to watch the movie, until the pizza boy finally was knocking at the door with their orders and so Eric got up from the couch to get the door. Nell looked at Eric with a look that said: Don't be away for too long, he turned around one more time, planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, took their orders from the pizza boy and shortly returned to Nell on the couch.

They ate their meals and watched the movie in complete silence for the rest of the evening, just stealing some innocent glances at each other from time to time. Eric really wanted to have the old Nell back, because since what horrible things they had experienced together, she didn't smile the way he loved so much. He continued to focus on the rest of the movie, Nell still cuddled very close to him and he thought: _*If I could take all your pain away at once, I would do it and I promise you this: we will get through this together* _ Later that evening Nell finally fell asleep, her head comfortably resting on one of Eric's shoulders. He softly stroke her hand, without waking her up he tidied up the couch table and then carried her into the bedroom bridal style.

At the weekend the following week he and Nell had a long discussion about the question, if she was really ready to go back to work again. "I know how bad you want to go back to work at OPS, but you do yourself and the team no good if you aren't a hundred percent." Nell thought about what Eric said, for a couple of minutes before she finally replied: "I know that Eric, I really do but I really need to do this, working again at OPS because that's the only the thing that keeps me sane. I really appreciate how much you care about my well-being and I certainly wouldn't do it, if I didn't myself that I am ready." She looked him deep into his eyes, got lost in it for quite a while and Eric knew by just looking at her face at how she determined she was in this case.

The first case back at work proved to be a very hard one, which got Eric really worried because he feared that Nell couldn't handle the stress. He even tried to take some of her workload but Nell assured him with a smile that she appreciated his concern but was able to handle the stress on her own and at that point he realized that he got a little overprotective of her. Then in the middle of the work the telephone next to Eric's workstation rang and as he picked up, Hetty said on the other end of the line: "Mister Beale come with Miss Jones to my office immediately, I have a special assignment for you." After the little mighty Operations Manager had hung up the phone, Eric said to Nell: "Hetty wants the both of us in her office right now; she has some special assignment for us."

Nell wondered what exactly that would be, as Eric led the way down the stairs to the bullpen and kind of hoped that it wouldn't be a field trip. "Miss Jones and Mister Beale, since NCIS Agents Jeffrey Parker and Stephanie Parker from Washington DC are part of joint investigation team here in Los Angeles for a while, you two have the pleasure of taking of their very nice kid." Nell and Eric were kind of stunned because they clearly hadn't expected that to be their special assignment but especially Nell was really looking forward to this whole thing.

Later that day the two finally met the cute little girl, they were taking care of for some time and Nell smiled at Eric in the way as she wanted to say: *Isn't she totally cute?* Today the sun was shining all day and as the three of them later sat in Nell's car, she spontaneously asked the little girl in the back seat: "Clara would you like to have some ice cream?" She really could see the little girl now, brightly smiling at her and then Clara answered with a lot of joy in her voice: "Yes that would be cool Nell."

Eric could also see now a big smile on his girlfriend's face and they all had a really great time at the café.

_AN: That was the last chapter of the story, even if im not completely satisfied with it, I really hope you like it anyway. Thanks to- Miss tarletone for reviewing this story, Thanks to- nahtl 7 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription._


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